


My Best Friend's Baby

by Snoot37



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Drama & Romance, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-07-04 07:47:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 74,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15836895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snoot37/pseuds/Snoot37
Summary: The followup story to "And the Party Continues." Tony and Pepper have finally had their first night together. But the next morning, Tony is too hungover to remember. Hurt, Pepper was prepared to pretend it never happened and never mention it to him again. Until the positive pregnancy test. What happens when she tells Tony it was someone else?





	1. Chapter 1

Tony came to consciousness slowly, feeling positive that his head was about to explode. The sunlight was streaming through the window obnoxiously, making it feel as if he was inside the Liberty bell. And it was ringing. Against is skull. Tony had had many hangovers in his life, but he honestly could not recall one this bad. Not only was his head ringing like a gong, but he could barely remember the night before. Everything was a blur, with mishmash images of faces he didn't recognize and those he did. He remembered pounding music and a lot of alcohol. He remembered snippets of conversation, but everything had a dream-like quality to it. He tried shaking his head to clear it, but that only caused him more pain. 

So he groaned and lay back against his pillows. His stomach was turning flip-flops and he figured he should probably try to get to the bathroom. Weakly, he pulled the sheet back and saw that he was naked. He stared down at himself in surprise. He usually slept in his boxer shorts, so if he was naked then it meant one thing. He had been with somebody last night. 

He was a little surprised at himself because he did remember sort of not being in the mood. In fact, he did remember not really wanting to be at the party in the first place. Then, suddenly, he remembered it was his birthday. He had not really wanted the party, but Pepper had insisted, claiming that it was a good business opportunity for making contacts with some of the guests. Tony had not really argued too hard. Pepper usually knew what she was doing anyway. But he didn't recall enjoying himself too much. He tried to draw up the face of the woman who he had been with last night. It wasn't uncommon to forget their faces the next morning, to say nothing of their names. But for the life of him, he could not remember much at all past 6 o'clock last night. That was when he had started consuming Jaeger bombs like candy. It wasn't often that alcohol through him for a loop like this anymore, but apparently it could still happen. The female faces he could recall were the nameless bimbo variety that usually frequented these parties. Fake blonde hair, high heels and tube tops, but nothing else. He had a brief flash of Pepper’s image in his mind, working the party and mingling amongst the guests, but occasionally turning to smile at him. He wasn't sure if it was a memory from last night or one of the memories he had of her from previous events like these. Then he had a strange vision of her leaning in to him, almost as if she was going to kiss him. No, that couldn’t be right. Pepper wouldn’t do that. If he had tried to kiss her, he’d still have the black eye. He wondered if she was here now, supervising what had to be a huge clean-up downstairs. His birthday parties usually required hazard pay on the part of the clean-up crew that had to come clean up the next morning. 

Sure enough, Pepper’s head poked into the bedroom around the door. JARVIS must have informed her that he was awake, Tony realized. She walked over to the bed and looked down at him. She was dressed pretty casually, all things considered. It wasn't customary for Tony to see her in yoga pants and a workout shirt with a thin shirt thrown on over that and sneakers. She was usually pretty prim and proper in business suits, even on Saturdays cleaning up after his parties. It must be pretty bad downstairs if she needed that outfit to supervise. 

“Morning sunshine,” she said with a smile. 

Tony whimpered in real pain and grabbed his head and rolled to the side. 

“Oh god, my head,” he said. “Please, I beg you, put me out of my misery.” 

“Oh come on,” she laughed, “it can't be that bad. On the other hand you put away enough alcohol to kill a small horse last night, so maybe it is.” 

“I swear, I'm never drinking again,” he said. 

She didn't answer. She had heard that one before, and it only lasted until the next party. On the other hand, he had not been partying that much since we got back from Afghanistan, and he had not really wanted this one, so maybe he could make good on that promise. 

“What time is it?” he asked. 

“11:30 am,” she replied. 

Tony shut his eyes again. Well that wasn't too terrible considering how he felt. 

“So what time did you send her home?” asked Tony. 

“What do you mean?” asked Pepper in confusion. 

“The girl I ended up with,” said Tony. “I don't have a stitch on, so obviously I ended up with someone. I just wondered if she had been sent home already.” 

“Tony you... what are you talking about?” asked Pepper. She looked confused. 

Now Tony was confused. “Well,” he said, “I'm lying in bed with a hangover and nothing on under this sheet. I'd show you, but you'd probably punch me. So I figured I found someone at the party last night. You sent her home, right?”

“You don't remember?” asked Pepper, with an odd tone in her voice. 

Tony shrugged. “Not really,” he said. “I know I was wasted, you don’t need to give me that look. I was stupid. I had a lot to drink. Why? Should I remember something?”

Pepper’s expression was unreadable. “Tony, how can you not remember?” she asked. 

“Well I don't, Pep, I’m sorry,” he groaned as he rolled back onto his side. “And I have a splitting headache, do we have to keep talking?” 

“You forgot what happened last night?” she asked quietly. 

Tony opened his eyes again. “Why?” he asked, with some consternation. “Did something happen? What did I do? Did I sleep with Senator Stern's wife or something? Am I in trouble?” 

“No,” she said. “Nothing like that. You...” She trailed off. 

“I what?” Tony asked. 

“You didn't sleep with Stern's wife or anything like that. Can you remember anything?” she asked, giving him that strange look again. 

Tony was getting irritated. His headache was killing him, and he had no memory of his own birthday party, and Pepper wasn't helping. "I'm sure it'll come to me when the hangover wears off," he said with a grumble. "The last thing I remember clearly is yelling at the DJ for playing a remix of a Barbara Streisand song. I think that was around seven. Then everything gets fuzzy. Like my vision right now." 

Pepper shook her head. "Well the party didn't get any more exciting after that. We don't have to fish the piano out of the pool again, thankfully. Clean-up crew is working downstairs, so you better shower and put some clothes on. I'll make you a BLT sandwich or something. It should help with the hangover."

She turned to leave. 

"Hey Pepper?" he asked. She turned around. 

"The girl I ended up with, you took care of her, or is she still downstairs?" His eyes were still closed, so he didn't see the flicker in Pepper's eyes. 

"Everything's been taken care of, like always," she said. "Go on and take a shower."

"Anyone I need to know about?" he asked. 

"I guess no one important if you can't remember," she quipped. 

Tony didn't open his eyes. "No I guess not," he said a little sadly. 

He opened his eyes expecting to see Pepper still standing there, asking if that would be all. But he was surprised to see her back disappearing around the door heading out into the hall. That was odd. There must be a hell of a mess downstairs if she had to run off back to supervise the cleaning crew. 

Groaning, he dragged himself out of bed to the bathroom to gulp down four aspirins and stumble into the shower. By the time he got out, he felt a little better, in that his headache was subsiding. But his head still felt fuzzy and odd, as if he were dreaming and not quite awake yet. And he had the weirdest sensation, like he had forgotten to do something, something important. 

\---------

Pepper tore blindly down the hallway, all the way to the other end of the house to the guest room she thought of as "hers," since it was the one farthest from Tony's and thus the one she slept in on the rare occasions she stayed over at his house. She was grateful the cleaning crew had taken care of the upstairs first, with careful instructions to leave Tony’s room alone. JARVIS had softly woken her a half hour before they had arrived and she had slipped out of bed for a quick shower so she would be able to supervise. Since the upstairs was dealt with, it meant she should not be disturbed for a while. 

She threw herself through the door and slammed it shut, knowing no one would hear. She leaned her back against the door and felt her knees go weak. Unable to support her weight, she sank to the floor as hot tears spilled down over her cheeks. She dropped her head to her hands as she dropped to the floor sobbing. 

He didn't remember. He had forgotten. 

Granted he was pretty smashed last night. Three Jaeger Bombs and several shots of whiskey would send an ordinary man to the hospital. But he had seemed fine, and even a little lucid after all the guests had left. She had been slightly inebriated herself, having had an extra martini more than she was used to. 

It was the only explanation as to why she had agreed, once they were alone at 1am with the last guest gone from the party, to give him the birthday kiss he had asked for. She felt she had owed him one, after all she had made him go through with the party when he had really just wanted to cancel it, for business purposes, and he had asked for just a kiss rather than his customary invitation for sex. In fact, he really hadn't done much philandering once he had come home from captivity, and she had noticed the change in him. It had made her wonder if his tomcat days were over, if he was ready for a serious relationship. Maybe even with her. Prior to that, she had always known his playboy ways would break her heart if she gave in to him, so she shot him down and kept him at arm’s length. 

But something about last night was different. She had intended to just give him a quick kiss and be done with it. It had turned into a ten minute make out fest on his couch, leading to her ending up under him with her leg around his hip and his erection pressing against her urgently. The kiss had lit them both on fire and burst through the walls she had carefully constructed to keep him out. He had begged her for a chance to prove himself. 

She didn't know if she could trust him. Ten years of seeing him be cavalier with other women made her distrustful of his intentions. But she had wanted to believe. And she had wanted him as badly as he wanted her. And she was slightly drunk herself. So, for the first time since she had known Tony Stark, she had ignored the warning voices screaming in her head that she would be nothing more to him than just another conquest, and had told him yes. She surrendered to him. 

They had gone upstairs to his room, shed their clothes, and what followed was an experience in ecstasy Pepper didn't know was even possible. She had always suspected Tony had the reputation he did due to some serious sexual skill. She had not been disappointed. He had driven her to be vocal in approval from pleasurable whimpers to actually crying out loudly as orgasm after orgasm hit her. She had never done that before, and was even slightly embarrassed by how thoroughly she had lost control. She had never felt that before, at least not to that extreme. It had been earth shattering as she expected, and he had exceeded her expectations. But he had been even more attentive. He had softly kissed her and caressed her, eased into her slowly, like he was astounded this was really happening and he was in awe of her or something, that perhaps she might vanish if he made one wrong move. She knew they had strong feelings for each other, but she had felt the first stirrings of really being in love with him. 

She really had expected that the next morning he would wake up next to her, thrilled at what they had done, maybe even ready to discuss having a romantic relationship. Instead, he had forgotten. Even with a hangover, how could he have forgotten the one thing she knew he had longed for, for years? Her. Was she that forgettable? 

What an idiot she had been. Her rational voice that had kept her away from him for years, and had been so thoroughly gagged last night as she gave in, now cane back in full force, even mocking herself. 

'Well what did you expect? How many times have you seem this happen to other women? Did you really think you'd be any different, that he would actually care?'

(yes) 

'Then you're a damn fool, Virginia Potts. You deserve to be hurt like this if you're that big of a doofus.'

(No I don't. I don't deserve it. I believed in him. There are worse things)

'You know he doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about anyone, not even himself. Why did you think you'd be different? Every girl thought that about him until the next morning. How many have you had to escort out crying? You swore you'd never be one of them. Now look.'

(So I'm a fool for trusting my friend. So sue me. It means I still have a heart. And he's hungover. He'll probably remember any minute now. I should go back right now and tell him about last night)

'Why? And give him a chance to laugh at you? To say 'well that's why I can't remember, it was just you' or something equally hurtful?'

(He wouldn't say that)

'And he wouldn't just make you another notch in his bedpost either? Well guess what, honey, he just did. He's going to go on about his day like he would I'd he had had a cheap slut instead of you. It won't make any difference to him. '

(That’s not fair, he should have the chance to have all the information. He doesn’t remember. I'm going to go tell him)

'Go ahead, you must be a masochist. You think anything will change? You really think he's changed? He hasn’t. Besides, if he gets so wasted drunk he forgets getting the sex he's wanted from you for years, he deserves it. He deserves to forget getting the one thing he's wanted for years. There's no point in debating this. He's a playboy, even if he’s slowed down a bit, he won’t change, and now you're one of his forgettable conquests. You can either leave him like everyone else after sleeping with the boss. Or you can pretend this never happened. No one will ever know, you can keep your reputation intact and have a nice memory of your one night stand with Tony Stark that even he don't remember and brag about. Just pretend it never happened. '

(What if he remembers and brings it up?) 

'Jump off that bridge when you come to it. But for now, this is the best option. Otherwise, the years you spent at the office proving to everyone you weren't sleeping with him, and actually have your job because you're competent in it, not just as a trophy for Tony, will all be gone. '

(I love him. This isn't right)

'It's the best you can do. And love him all you want, but when you let it rule you like this, you get hurt. He's a playboy. He’s a narcissist. He might have some affection for you, but he doesn't love. He says whatever he has to in order to get what he wants. He said exactly what you needed to hear last night. Don't make the same mistake twice. '

(I guess.)

She had been crying heavily the entire time she had been having the mental argument with herself, but her tears were slowing, as she was wondering vaguely when her deceased mother’s voice suddenly lodged itself in her subconscious, for this is the kind of conversation they might have had when Pepper was a teenager experiencing her first heartbreak from the jerk on the football team. She wasn't sure she shouldn't just get up, go back down the hall and just tell him what happened last night. Better yet, get JARVIS to show him the footage from the security tape. 

JARVIS.

"JARVIS?" she asked hesitantly. 

"Yes Ms. Potts? Are you OK?" came the disembodied voice of the AI running the house. 

"I need a favor," she said. 

\-----------

A little later, Tony came downstairs to the kitchen and found a BLT sandwich, a cup of coffee and a banana on the counter. His gifts from last night were sorted into piles, stuff to keep and stuff to give to charity. The gifts from people like Happy, Rhodey, his secretary and other "close" people were in one pile, and gifts from people who were practically strangers in another, to be donated to charity or something. He was surprised to see Pepper’s wrapped gift in the donate pile. It must have gotten put there by accident. He moved it to the "keep" pile. 

 

Grabbing his sandwich, he wandered into the living room, looking for Pepper, feeling an odd need to be in her presence. The clean-up crew was nearly done, and the house looked almost pristine again. Pepper was finalizing the last bit with the crew. She gave him an odd smile when he walked in, which she quickly controlled and her demeanor became normal once more. 

“Hey, Pep,” he said, not sure why he was feeling like something wasn't quite right with her. “Everything ok?”

“Sure,” she said without hesitation. “Everything's fine.” 

Then, she turned and walked off.


	2. Chapter 2

Pepper lay on the floor of her bathroom and tried not to throw up again. After nearly a week of trying to convince herself that she only had a stomach bug, she could no longer ignore the signs. She was two weeks late, and this time it wasn't just stress. Being overworked as Tony's PA had occasionally caused her to miss periods even when she knew she could not possibly be pregnant. But this time was different because she certainly could be. 

And apparently was. 

The little stick on her counter with the incriminating "+" sign almost seemed to be mocking her. How could she have let this happen? It was one thing to get drunk and sleep with your boss, but she considered it an unforgivable lapse of judgment to allow herself to be so upset the next morning that she forgot to take a Plan B pill the next morning. It was completely ironic too. 

If Tony prided himself in his sexual prowess over the years, then she had equally prided herself in her ability to keep him out of trouble and away from paternity suits. That was no small feat for a man like Tony Stark. At the height of his philandering days, he could be "busy" as many as three or four times a week. She had employed a team of lawyers and private detectives to help her ensure that none of his overnight guests came back with a problem that would need to be sent to college in 18 years. To Tony's credit, he was fairly discrete. He always used condoms and had a ready supply at hand. It would just figure that the one time he didn’t, with her, and both of them inebriated, he'd hit the target. For a man with as many sexual exploits as he had, he had managed to keep himself clean of STDs and paternity lawsuits. One would think that, after nearly 20 years of random sex every other night, that he would have a string of illegitimate children behind him. It was nothing short of a miracle that he didn't. When Pepper had come on board, she had organized a system. 

It was up to Tony to make sure he wrapped “Tony Junior” securely during his escapades. After one girl had been caught trying to steal a used condom, probably hoping to get pregnant by him on purpose for God knows what reason, it then became Tony's job to make sure they were disposed of Securely, which meant breaking the cardinal rule of condoms and flushing them down the toilet. From there, it was then Pepper's job to make sure the next phase of accidental pregnancy avoidance was followed. Unethical as it may be, and probably a little dangerous, not knowing the medical history of most of these girls, she had taken to hiding a single dose morning after pill in their coffee that she handed them on the way out the door. Plan B was far from foolproof, but if administered in a timely fashion, was around 70% effective. It was up to Happy to make sure they drank it before he dropped them off. She always gave them a small cup of coffee to ensure that it would be quickly drunk. After that, one of two private detectives would watch the girls for the next six months to ensure she didn't come up pregnant. 

The system worked pretty well, all things considered. But even it wasn't foolproof. The sheer volume of women that Tony worked himself through meant that, statistically, there would be at least a handful of problems over the years. Prior to Pepper's system, there had been three times that Tony had probably fathered a pregnancy. All three of those times involved, first his father Howard, and then Obadiah Stane, dishing out a certain amount of money (and intimidation factor) to ensure the girl terminated the pregnancy. The other two that had happened on Pepper's watch had involved her having to do the same, though thankfully the two women had been all about ending it anyway and were thrilled to have it paid for. She didn’t think she’d have it in her to try and talk a woman out of a pregnancy she wanted. It has been one of the worst things she had ever had to do on this job. Tony had known about all five pregnancies, and had been nervous and edgy until confirmation had been given that they had been ended. He made no secret of this either. 

Then, of course, there had been the women who showed up with an actual child claiming it was Tony's. Thankfully, the only three that had a credible claim had been disproven by DNA testing. Blessedly, these incidents became fewer and far between in the last few years. Tony was slowing down some of his schmoozing behavior, and it had stopped nearly entirely since he came back from Afghanistan. She had breathed a sigh of relief, even if it meant she was now losing sleep over Iron Man. 

So, the irony of her forgetting to take a Plan B pill herself was not lost on her. It was inconceivable that, after the year she had spent making sure other women avoided this very scenario, that she herself would be the one to come up pregnant by Tony Stark. The entire situation reeked of a horrible, cosmic practical joke. Even her self-critical voice was silent, knowing that there were really no words for this one. What could she possibly say to herself? Sleeping with Tony had been one of the biggest mistakes of her life, enjoyable as it had been, but one that she had not envisioned being able to top in stupidity. Apparently even that was possible. 

For someone who had a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA, she was certainly walking, living proof that intelligence did not mean you couldn't be an idiot also. But there was proof of her mistake lying on the counter in the form of a positive pregnancy test. She felt another wave of nausea and got up off the floor leaning over the toilet. She felt more tears spilling out of her eyes, even though she had just spent the last hour crying. Was there to be no end to this? Just what the hell was she supposed to do now? 

If she were one of the many faceless and nameless women Tony brought home in this particular situation, she already knew what his answer would be, because he had given it before. He would want it taken care of immediately and would not rest until it was. Legally, you cannot force such a decision of course, but she had seen him be very persuasive in other areas, so she knew she would be up for a fight if she refused. On the other hand, she wasn't a nameless, faceless one night stand. Even if he thought of her as a one night stand, he wasn't going to be able to get past the fact that she was his friend and this scenario was unprecedented. Would he feel differently about this scenario because it was her?

'There you go thinking you are something special to him again' said her subconscious. 'You really are a slow learner.' 

She shook her head and stood up to rinse out her mouth. She stared down at the stick again and fervently hoped that no one had seen her buying it. There were a lot of factors that would need to come in to play and she had a decision to make. 

The obvious course of action would to be to schedule a termination procedure immediately. Even if she were not pregnant with Tony Stark's child, she was still a PA to a high profile CEO of a fortune 500 company. At any given moment, she was expected to be able to pick up and jet off to the other side of the world for business reasons, or otherwise, as Tony required. She worked as much as 60 hours a week, and her job with Tony frequently did not recognize the concept of weekends. More than once, she had fallen asleep on Tony's couch, or in the guest room, because she had found herself working well past 10 o'clock at night. She really had no time to even go on a single date or have much of a personal life. She had never really been around children much, but the women who worked for her at the office had kids, and she knew enough about their schedules, to say nothing of frequently having to leave to go retrieve a sick one from daycare at the drop of a hat, to know that a baby simply wouldn't fit into her current schedule or lifestyle. If the father were anyone other than Tony, she would consider adoption. But that wasn't the case here, and the child was already a target just because it had the misfortune to share DNA with Tony Stark. 

As famous as he was as a billionaire, and now a crime fighter in the form of Iron Man, he was even more of a target then he had already been, and so was anyone he valued, which included her and Happy and Rhodey. A baby would simply be a sitting duck, whether it was with her or adoptive parents. As soon as anyone knew this child was Tony's, it would be just a matter of time before kidnappers showed up. Even if it wasn’t Tony's, she knew most people would assume it was and it would be in danger anyway. Rumors had swirled about them from day one, and she knew as soon as anyone knew she was pregnant, the whole world would assume it was Tony's anyway. No, if she planned to have it, she would have to keep it. If she didn't want to keep it, she would have to end it, and soon too. 

Finally, the wave of nausea passed and Pepper slowly stood up and cleaned herself up. It was one of those rare Sundays when Tony had not called for her to come in, and secretly she was relieved. It has been seven weeks since their encounter, which put Pepper at seven weeks into a pregnancy. Since then, she had found it increasingly difficult to be around him. She had extremely mixed feelings about him, and she didn't much like it. Pepper wasn't someone who was comfortable with uncertainty. She acknowledged that she had strong feelings for her boss that started with a crush and bordered on being in love with him. What she chose to do with these feelings was still up for debate. She's needed a serious jam fest with herself to work out what she should do, and she didn't want to be found by anybody during it. 

She got in her car and drove to a secluded State Park Beach that she knew of. It was rarely crowded and often peaceful. She parked her car and headed to her favorite outcropping of rocks that jutted out just into the ocean. She had discovered a comfortable seat made out of the indentions of the rock that was perfect for meditating, while listening to the crash of the waves below. She settled herself in and looked out over the ocean. 

She knew that from this point on, her life would be changed forever and that was really no going back. Whatever she decided to do, there was no denying that she was pregnant with the child of the man she knew she was in love with. The real question was did he feel the same in return and what would he want her to do about this? As before, her lifestyle and career did not have room for a baby. Her schedule was so unstable that there was no way she could possibly adequately care for a child and keep the same hours that she did. If she decided that she wanted to have the baby then, she would either need to scale back her hours working for Tony or quit altogether. She wasn't sure she could be any kind of effective assistant to him if she scaled back her hours the way she would need to, and Tony needed somebody effective looking after him. The fair thing to do would be to quit and find someone to replace her. Her heart stung a little bit at the concept, for she knew that Tony needed her, and had gone through many assistants before she took the job. Plus, their friendship allowed her to work well with him, and he actually listened to her on occasion. Could anyone else keep him out of trouble the way she did? On top of that, since he became Iron Man and let the whole world know about it, she had also become quite proficient in emergency medical aid. More than once, he had come crashing home from some mission in which he was torn up to the point of needing to go to the hospital. Rhodey had arranged to have Pepper trained in military medic procedures, and she had even stitched him up on occasion. Where in the world were they going to find someone willing to do that job if she needed to be replaced? Still, despite all of this, she knew that if she kept the baby, then the baby would have to come before Tony. She would end up having to make a choice between her child and its father. 

Speaking of which, there was the problem of telling Tony. She already knew what his previous reactions have been to pregnancies that he had inadvertently caused. He had wanted them ended immediately. Despite the fact that she had hoped that she would occupy a different place in his heart, she had no reason to believe that his reaction to her would be any different. Tony had spent a lifetime trying to avoid this very scenario. Part of her employment with him included aiding him in this, to the point of illegal activity and drugging people. Regardless of his potential feelings for her, she fully expected that this would be his reaction. She didn't even want to think about what would happen if he told her to terminate the pregnancy and she refused. He certainly couldn't force her, but she none of the five previous women he had gotten pregnant had needed to be forced, at least not too hard. She had always wondered what he would do if one of them had refused and couldn't be bought out to change her mind. 

On the other hand, if it had not been his baby, he really wouldn't have much of a say in it. If she were carrying another man's child, he could be disappointed and upset about her quitting to have it and raise it all he wanted to, he might even try to convince her otherwise, but ultimately Tony would know it would be none of his business, and would not give her too much hell about it. 

Of course, the easiest thing to do would be to terminate the pregnancy and not have to deal with all this. When she decided not to tell Tony about their night together, and apparently he had still not remembered, she had made a choice about any possible future for the two of them. She had opted to go back to the way things were, keeping the secret to herself. For the most part, it seemed to be working, for Tony didn't treat her any differently than he had before, except that he was inexplicably more drawn to her these days, but for no apparent reason that he could fathom. For the past two months, he had been finding silly reasons to come into her office and ask her questions she knew he knew the answer to. It made her wonder if he actually did remember, even though she knew he didn't. She could terminate the pregnancy, and he would never know. She could try to go back to the way things had always been, keeping the secret of her night with him and her accidental pregnancy by him to herself. It would avoid a lot of complication if he just never knew about either. But even as she thought it, she knew she wouldn't seriously consider it. 

Her life the past several years had not really included many thoughts about having children or her own family. Her father had passed away when she was still very young, and she had never been close to her mother, who passed away only a few years ago. Like Tony, she never had much of a family life to speak of. While most of her life she had remained doggedly concentrated on her career, on occasion she had allowed herself to contemplate having children and a husband. She chalked it up to a normal progression of life and considerations to make, but given her life with Tony the last few years, they had been pushed to the back of her mind. 

Now, here she was at 36 years old, with her window of opportunity for children quickly closing. She knew very well that this could be her only chance to have a child. Did she want to turn her back on that chance so quickly even for Tony? She stared out to sea for several more minutes before finally allowing herself to consider that she would indeed go through with it. Oddly enough, when she allowed herself to acknowledge that she wanted the child, she felt a sense of relief coming over her. The hardest part had been making the decision to terminate the pregnancy or continue it. Understanding now that she intended to continue meant that other decisions could be made. 

She was just going to have to quit as Tony's personal assistant. She felt tears coming to her eyes at the thought that this was the give and take. If she wanted to keep the baby, she just simply couldn't keep going on as she had. She was going to have to quit. She should also probably do it before she started to show. The sooner she was away from public scrutiny, the less likely the media would be able to put two and two together. She couldn't hide her condition forever, but she could certainly delay it. And if you were already gone from Tony's life, maybe the media wouldn’t look too hard for her, although they would certainly ask questions as to why she left. She figured it would only be a matter of time. As she had considered before, her being pregnant really wouldn't matter much to the press and the media. They would assume it was Tony's whether it was or not. She winced thinking of paparazzi pictures of herself with a stomach like a beach ball and the caption that would unlikely a company such a picture on the front page of the supermarket tabloid. It was not going to be at all pretty. She also had to consider what she was going to do with herself without having a job at Stark Industries. Thankfully, money was not really a concern. Tony was not in denial about the kind of pain in the ass he was, and her salary adequately reflected it, making her one of the highest paid business women in the country. Because her living expenses only amounted to a fraction of her yearly salary, she saw no point in paying for a fancy apartment she was rarely in anyway, so her studio apartment was pocket change. Consequently, she had built quite the nest egg over the last decade, and really didn't need to work at all. She could send this kid to college and do nothing until age 90 and be all set. 

No, financially she was fine and could support the baby on her own, if she had to. And while the fallout from revealing her pregnancy to the world would be ugly, she knew she could handle it after dealing with some of Tony's public escapades. Although it would take maybe a year or two, interest would die down after a while, and public attention moved on to the next best thing. She would just have to weather the storm. But her ultimate concern was safety. Even if Tony would be unhappy about the baby, she didn't believe that he would allow them to be exposed to danger. She would probably have to relocate to someplace that he could secure against danger, possibly a house somewhere out of sight. 

No, the real problem was going to be telling Tony. She was going to have to admit to that night and not having told him about that. She was going to have to look him in the eye and tell him she was going to continue a pregnancy she never tried to have and raise a child she never planned for, because she had had sex with him that he couldn’t remember. And expecting that he would tell her to end the pregnancy, she was going to have to do it beyond his wishes. He would be furious with her, she knew. She was not at all looking forward to that conversation. If only the baby weren't Tony's. Although it would not completely resolve the situation, it would certainly be less complicated. She was, on the one hand, glad she was carrying the child of a man she knew she loved, but on the other hand, because it was Tony, it made the whole situation at least five times more difficult.

Then, a thought formed in her mind. Technically speaking, the only other person who would know that the baby was Tony's would be JARVIS. And she had made the AI promise not to tell Tony about the night of his birthday party unless he directly asked. She had explained to JARVIS that she felt like she had made a mistake, and it was better forgotten. JARVIS could not override his own programming and thus could not lie to Tony, nor could he keep secrets that might directly affect Tony safety. The computer had not really agreed with her choice of action. However, he had agreed that this was a private matter of hers, and had agreed to remain silent unless asked. Pepper wondered vaguely what JARVIS would think when she came up pregnant and claimed it was not Tony's. JARVIS would know that wasn’t the truth. Would the AI spill the beans to Tony? She honestly had no idea. 

Still, the idea of pretending the baby was someone else's was more appealing than facing the fallout of admitting that it was Tony's and the circumstances of its conception. There were already going to be plenty of whispers about her promiscuity level when the news broke. Maybe it would dull the blow a bit to say it was someone else. It was something she was going to have to think about. In the meantime, she resolved to keep this to herself until she could no longer hide it. And she was going to have to make a doctor’s appointment soon. 

The decision made, she stood up and cast one last look out to the ocean. She was going to be a mother and from now on the choices she made would have to be for protecting her baby, even if it hurt. Even if she had to do it alone. Even if it meant walking away from Tony. But even as she thought this, there was a small part of her mind and heart that wondered if Tony would be okay with the situation. What kind of father would he make, especially after having been raised by Howard Stark? Tony didn't have the best parental examples himself. He would probably make a lot of serious mistakes, as she expected to make herself. On the other hand, when he wasn't being a self-centered ass, he could be an amazing individual to know and be around. With a man like Tony as a father, the kid could expect to be exposed to all sorts of wacky knowledge before the age of four. As it was, if it inherited Tony’s genius, she might have her hands really full with a kid building a rocket in her living room for fun. If Tony ever decided to apply himself to being responsible for the intellectual and emotional development of another human being, there's no doubt that that kid would have quite the unique upbringing. It might even be fun. 

Briefly, she allowed herself to envision what it would be like with her and Tony both as parents to a little kid. That vision included allowing herself to see the two of them in a committed romantic relationship. She had to admit, it was a very nice image. 

'Get real' said her annoying logical voice. 'Tony has spent his entire life actively avoiding relationships and fatherhood. You know what he'll say to a pregnancy announcement, because you know what he said before to others. He's not going to want this.' 

(How will I know if I don't give him a chance. This could be different. He has changed since Afghanistan.) 

'Yes he has but not the way he would need to change for a child. You just now made the decision to be responsible for another human being for the rest of your natural life, and that includes protecting this kid physically and emotionally. Tony may be a good guy at heart, but he is unstable. And babies needs stability. '

(How will I know if he is capable of being stable without giving him a chance?)

'You don't have that luxury. The safest course of action if you plan to keep the kid is quit your job and don't tell Tony it's his. This is the situation, it won't change.' 

With a sigh, Pepper gathered up her things and walked back to her car, not really looking forward to tomorrow morning. She told herself that she didn't have to tell Tony anything right away. She still had some time, and she still needed to go to the doctor. But being around him at work was getting difficult. Her mind kept flashing back to the night of his birthday party. It was then quickly replaced by the following morning. She longed for him in the worst way, but she just couldn't trust him. 

\-----------------

Tony had to admit that he was worried about Pepper. There wasn't anything specific that he could put his finger on, she got her work done and handled his crap just as well as she always did, but there was just something off about her. Normally he'd chalk it up to a rough week, stress or a cold, but this had been going on for weeks. There wasn't anything specific that he could point to about what was different about her. On the surface, one would be hard-pressed to notice there was any difference at all. Prior to his captivity in Afghanistan, even he might not have noticed. Tony was well aware of the fact that he had been one self-centered jerk for several years and he rarely noticed anything unless it pertains directly to himself. He relied on Pepper to memorize the important details about important people within the company and outside of it, such as the birthdates of board members’ children, and who had just sent a kid to college. Pertinent personal information that might be useful to him was stored in Pepper’s head. 

Prior to his captivity, he never really noticed anything about anyone. What he knew about Pepper’s past he had picked up from various conversations he had had with her over the years. He knew both of her parents were dead and that she had grown up in Michigan, that she had come to California to go to college while having a minor modeling career. She had worked for Aldrich Killian at AIM briefly, before transferring to Stark Industries. He knew this because he finally got around to reading her personnel file fairly recently. He knew she liked yoga because he had seen her travel with a yoga mat. He knew she was allergic to strawberries because he had seen her turn down food strawberries in them. He knew that she had wacky tastes in music from Air Supply to Coldplay, because she had accidentally left her iPod on his coffee table. But it wasn't until he returned from Afghanistan that he had truly begun to notice and watch Pepper. 

Before the incident of having his life-threatening nearly every day for three months, he regarded Pepper as just one of the many fixtures in his life like Happy and Rhodey. After the first couple of years as his assistant, constantly turning him down with his offers, he had become comfortable with the idea of Pepper just not being into sex. While he knew that probably wasn't true, adopting that mindset had allowed him to start to see her as a friend and not a sexual object. Even though he was self-centered and self absorbed, he would occasionally notice and remember a little bit about Pepper, which became more pronounced after he came home. When he has been held captive, he thought often of home, and he thought of her every day. It had surprised him how often he thought of her, and how much he missed her. There were times in that cave where he would've chopped off his right hand just to be able to see her again. There were even times, like when he was being tortured, when he was sure he was hallucinating and heard her voice calling his name. When he had come home and seen her waiting for him as he got off the plane, he didn't want to admit that it was easily the happiest day of his life. He had wanted to throw his arms around her and hold her. But of course he couldn't do that, so he covered up his feelings with a sarcastic remark. 

Several months had passed since he came home and he knew he had changed. He didn't party as much as he had, and had not had random sex since the night before he left for Afghanistan. His drinking had slowed down as well as he poured his energy instead into his Iron Man suit and righting the wrongs his company had caused. Although he had never before wondered what Pepper felt before, now he found himself wondering what about her and if she was proud of him. For some reason, it mattered now to him. 

These last couple of weeks had been somewhat mystifying to him. Ever since his birthday party, he had felt drawn to her for some reason. He couldn't really explain it, but he found himself wandering out of his workshop or out of his office to wherever she was at several points during the day, mostly because he just wanted to see her and hear her voice. He tried to come up with legitimate reasons for coming up to ask her questions or talk to her, but even as he did, he knew they were thin excuses. The crazy thing was, he wasn't entirely convinced that she wasn't avoiding him. It went back to the small reasons why he suspected something was wrong. Before, she used to come down to the workshop randomly to make sure he was eating or to bring him things to sign or just to see what he was up to. Now, it wasn't uncommon for her to stay upstairs all day, never coming down to see him at all. She still smiled and occasionally laughed at his jokes, but it seemed to him like she was smiling a lot less than normal. She was usually fairly energetic, being able to keep up with him, but now he saw her frequently leave early or disappear into her office for long stretches. She wasn't as inclined to make conversation with him about random things the way she had before, and he had always enjoyed talking to her. 

He didn't think that she felt bad, but he could tell she didn't feel well. What worried him was that she had the symptoms of some things that could be serious. Maybe she was just anemic or something, but it seemed like her entire personality was slowly changing to something more depressed. He had only seen her once today, as she had ducked her head into his office to ask if he needed anything. After that, she disappeared into her own office to work on some contracts and had settled for sending him instant messages asking if everything was in order, when previously she would come into his office to ask. He had no idea what could be wrong with her. 

Making a decision, he got up from his desk and wandered past his secretary to Pepper’s office. He knocked softly, and then open the door. He saw her stretched out on the sofa in her office with her hand over her eyes as if she had a headache. Swiftly, he closed the door and walked over to her. 

“Pepper? Are you okay?” he asked trying to keep the concern out of his voice. 

Her eyes popped open and she hastily try to sit up, but a wave of dizziness caught her, and she settled back down again. 

“Hey hey hey, easy there,” he said helping her back down. 

“I'm fine Tony,” she said waving him off. “I'm just a little tired.” 

“You've been tired a lot lately, Pep,” he said, now not even bothering trying to hide the concern in his voice. 

“It's just stress,” she said. “All your Iron Man stuff has been a PR nightmare and it's keeping me up at night.” 

“I'm sorry about that,” he said sheepishly. “I guess I didn't really think about how my admission was going to affect you. I should probably stop doing that huh?”

“I wouldn't turn it down,” she said with a wry grin, finally sitting up. 

“Seriously though Pepper,” he said, “I'm worried about you. You haven't been yourself for several weeks now, don't think I haven't noticed. It's not to stress, something’s wrong is there?” 

“It's nothing, Tony,” she said looking away. 

“Are you sick?” he asked. 

“I'm....I don't think so,” she stammered. 

“Did you eat any lunch today?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Not much. I wasn’t hungry, really.”

“Well I think you should go to the doctor,” he said matter of factly. “You're off, it's obvious. Just make sure it isn't something serious, you know?” 

She didn't look at him, but instead looked out the window. "I already have an appointment for tomorrow," she said. 

He was surprised. So she wasn’t in denial. He was glad she was going, but if she was, it meant she knew something was wrong too. That was disconcerting. Pepper was almost never sick. 

“Ok,” he said. “Just let me know how it goes?” 

She nodded. He squeezed her shoulder, and then hesitantly turned to go. 

"Need Happy to drive you home?" he asked. 

"No it's ok, really," she said. "I'll be fine." 

He hesitated. He felt like there was something he should say. He really didn't want to end the conversation. This was the most she had said to him in days and he was worried about her. He wanted to keep talking to her, to sit near her, anything. But she had already stood up and turned her body slightly to the side, away from him. She was done with the conversation. He turned to go. 

She watched his retreating back as he walked out. 

(so he doesn't care, huh?)

Her sarcastic voice was silent. 

\---------

Tony walked out and nearly collided with Pepper's secretary, Lauren. 

"Oops, sorry Mr. Stark," she said quickly. "I was just coming to check on Pepper."

Tony genuinely liked Lauren, and not for sexual promise either. Ever since he had allowed himself to just be friends with Pepper, it had opened the door for other interactions with women on platonic levels. Lauren was engaged to a man down in IT, a guy named Chris who got away with wearing Hawaiian shirts to work. But the man was a genius with website design, so they didn't give him too much trouble about it. They were due to get married in a few months, and his secretary, Pepper and Charissa, the PR specialist who also worked up here, spent a good deal of time gushing about the upcoming wedding. It was estrogen laden chattering that usually sent Tony running for his office in amusement, but it made him smile to see Pepper with girl friends. With Charissa married with three kids, his own secretary married and 56 years old and Lauren engaged, and of course Pepper being....well....Pepper, it was actually refreshing for a change to have these unavailable women who were all stellar at their jobs working in his administration office and keeping him in line. He felt it took away the pressure and expectations people had of him, and his flirtatious teasing wasn't taken seriously by any of them, especially Pepper. 

"She's doing better," he said. “She's about to go home."

"Is she still getting sick?" Lauren asked. "She's been queasy all day. All week really. She thinks we don't notice when she heads off to the bathroom. I hope it's not catching." 

"Wait, she's been throwing up?" Tony asked with alarm. "How long has this been going on?"

Lauren shrugged. "At least a day or two that I noticed. Honestly, it's probably just stomach flu coming on. All of Charissa's kids had it last week. She probably brought some germs here from home."

That news soothed Tony's nerves a bit. That must be it, surely. But he didn't like hearing that Pepper had been that sick without him knowing or her telling him. That wasn't like her. Lauren turned and went in to Pepper's office to see if they were going to walk out together. His eyes lingered on Pepper as she walked out with Lauren, both of them bidding him goodbye. She was pale and wan. How could he have missed it? He watched her go with concern. He'd feel much better when she got to the doctor and got some answers. He just hoped it wasn't serious.


	3. Chapter 3

"Tony?" came Pepper's voice from the door of his office. "Can I talk to you?"

Tony looked up in surprise from his Holo imager. Pepper stayed in the doorway of his office with her arms crossed across her chest, looking slightly to the side, not meeting his gaze. 

"Sure," he said, immediately coming around his desk to stand front of her. She turned and reached behind her and closed the door to his office. He felt his heart leap up into his throat. That meant she didn't want to be overheard. This couldn't be good. 

It has been two days since her doctor’s appointment and Tony had been on pins and needles waiting to hear what was wrong with her. The day of the appointment, she had been out of the office all day and she had not wanted to text him about it. The appointment had been in the morning and she had planned to come in, in the afternoon, but she had texted him to say that the doctor was sending her for blood work, and then after that, she said she didn't feel well and was going home. He had called later in the afternoon to check on her, but she had been sleepy and not very helpful. She said she wouldn't know any results of any test for another 24 hours anyway, so he had hung up and let her sleep. 

He expected to ask her about the appointment yesterday, but she had called in sick to work. The girls in the offices outside were sure she had the stomach bug Charrisa's kids had had, and had not said another word about it. But Tony had been hard-pressed not to jump in his car and drive over to her apartment to check on her. He had resorted to texting her endlessly all through the day. 

Tony 10:30am Is anything seriously wrong? Do you need me to come over?

Pepper 10:59am No. I'm fine I just need to rest. 

Tony 11:00am Are you feeling any better?

Pepper 11:10am Not really. 

Tony 11:11am Want me to bring you some lunch?

Pepper 11:25am No thanks I don't think I could eat right now. 

Tony 11:26am Did you throw up again?

Pepper 11:49am Yeah. Twice. 

Tony 11:50am That worries me you know. 

Tony 12:20pm Pepper?

Tony 1:00pm U there?

Pepper 1:20pm Yeah sorry I was asleep

Tony 1:21 pm Scared me for a minute. Feeling any better?

Pepper 1:55pm Sorta

Tony 2:12pm Feeling any better now?

Pepper 2:30pm No. 

Tony 2:50pm Feeling any better?

Pepper 2:51pm Tony I feel the same way I did 20 minutes ago. Don't you have some work you should be doing so I don't have to do it all tomorrow when I come back?

Tony 2:52 pm Yeah I guess. Sorry.

He had held off texting her again until later that night, when she had confirmed that she was feeling better. He allowed himself to be somewhat relieved by that, enough to go to sleep. When he woke up the next morning, he saw that she had already texted him to tell him that she was coming into the office. Normally today would be a home day for Tony. After the Iron Man press conference, Pepper had convinced him that, for the sake of the shareholders and the board of directors to keep confidence in the company and not worry that his superhero antics were going to distract from normal business, that he should come into the office at least three times a week for no less than five hours.

Any fabricating on the holo imager could be done on the portable one in his office, and if anyone in the company needed to speak with him they could do it then. He had agreed to come in on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 to 3 o'clock. It made things a little easier on Pepper and her staff to have him there to sign important papers rather than have them run over to his house. The employees of Stark Industries learned to schedule their meetings and their questions with him for those days on those hours. The rest of the week, Tony remained at home in his workshop. He had to admit that a measly 15 to 20 hours a week in the office compared to the other 148 he could spend home just to keep his assistant happy was a small price to pay. Technically speaking, this was Friday and should be a home day.

But he knew she would want to come into the office today to try and finish the work she didn't do yesterday or the day before, because she was that kind of workaholic. So he had come in too. He hoped that she had noticed that he had spent a good deal of time this week, especially yesterday, making a serious effort to get his work and some of hers done. It was the opposite of how things normally went, for she was the one usually doing his work for him. But his genius intellect allowed him to coast through most of the business work in a matter of hours as opposed to days. If he really wanted to, he could be more efficient than the computers that Stark Industries used. He just rarely was interested enough to do so. But with Pepper under the weather, he wanted to give her a chance to relax and not worry about work. So most of yesterday, he finished all of his work in the morning and then all of hers in the afternoon. Probably for the first time in a decade, she had come into the office with everything caught up and very little to do right away. She had noticed actually, and had been beyond surprised. She knew this was Tony's way of showing that he cared, but she stubbornly refused to allow herself to contemplate any further than that. 

"So what's the verdict?" he asked.

She took a deep breath and handed him one of the two papers she was holding. 

"What's this?" he asked, unfolding the paper.

"My two weeks’ notice," she said "I'm resigning."

Tony's head snapped up and his eyes met hers. She had threatened to quit many times under particularly stressful situations, like dragging him into the bathroom after he had drunk himself stupid at a party, or had been caught in bed with the wife of the California governor. But he had never taken her seriously, because he knew deep down she didn't mean it. So for her to tell him she was quitting when, as far as he could see nothing was happening out of the ordinary, and to the best of his knowledge he hadn't done anything too outrageous lately, hit him like a thunderbolt. His lips twitched upward slightly, fighting back a smile. This was a joke surely. She must be joking, that was it. 

But then he saw her eyes glistening and saw that she was fighting back tears. It was then that he knew she wasn't joking. She was really quitting on him. Pepper was a terrible liar, in fact it was one of the many reasons he had hired her as his assistant. Her inability to lie or bluff was very valuable to him in an atmosphere where he was lied to on a regular basis. He honestly had no idea how she is managed to wriggle away from Obadiah Stane when he had caught her in Tony's office hacking into the mainframe. It was probably the only time in her life she had been able to pull off a convincing poker face. He could see she wasn't even trying now. He felt his insides go cold. 

He opened the paper in his hand. It was a resignation letter. It was signed and dated giving her two weeks’ notice. 

"I don't want to just leave you hanging," she said, "so I will find a replacement myself and train them in my system. And for the sake of avoiding personal conflict, we'll try to find a guy or someone who is married," she said with a knowing look in her eyes. 

Tony barely heard her. "Pep....Pepper, I don't understand," He stammered. 

"You're serious about this? Why? What did I do this time? Whatever I did, I swear I apologize."

Pepper shook her head. She knew this was going to be hard but it was turning out to be harder than she expected. It was taking every bit of willpower she had not to break down. 

"This time it isn't actually you, Tony," she said. "You didn't do anything."

(except knock me up)

"Well WHY then?" he pleaded. "What's happened?" 

She swallowed hard trying to force down the lump in her throat and searched for the right words to tell him what she needed to say. She had to choose her words carefully if this was going to work the way she wanted it to. And with him staring at her with his pleading eyes, nearly on the verge of tears himself, she was going to have to do it while ignoring her breaking heart. 

"I'm not going to be able to be your assistant anymore," she said. "I can't keep the hours anymore. I can't drop everything and go to Dubai or Senegal or Argentina at a moment's notice anymore. And you need an assistant who can do that. I can't do the job now." 

OK now Tony was scared. "Pepper I need YOU. No one else can ever do this job like you. And if you need to make some adjustments just ask, don't quit on me. We can work out something. Why all this all of a sudden? Is it because of your health? What happened, what did the doctor say?"

Pepper hung her head and her shoulders sagged. She seemed to be struggling with her words. 

"It's something serious isn't it?" said Tony. "Is it cancer or something? Please don't say it's cancer. Because if it is, you're going to need your insurance here."

"No, it's not cancer. And I can afford insurance. Tony....." she hesitated. 

"And if it's serious," Tony continued quickly,"you're going to, you know, need support. Now's a bad time to leave and....we can work out your schedule, take any time you need. And I'll, you know......I'll help you. I mean I don't know how, but....I can help......"

He was desperate. She was serious about leaving. He knew it. She was serious about leaving *him.* He couldn't let her walk, he just couldn't. 

"Tony it's not fatal. And I'm not sick," she cut in. 

Tony stopped. Well if she wasn't sick, why was she so tired and queasy all the time? Why was she quitting?

"I....,Tony, umm....." she gulped. "I....I'm pregnant." Her breath exploded outward and she stared at the floor, unable to look at him. 

Tony blinked hard. Twice. Then his jaw dropped and his eyes opened wide in disbelief. 

He had heard and understood her words, but his brain was refusing to make the connection. Pregnant? How could Pepper be pregnant? He didn't even know she was seeing someone. He felt his heart fall right to the floor at the thought. 

"You're...you're what?" he stammered. 

"I'm....pregnant," she said, finding it easier to say the more she said it out loud. 

"How??" he squeaked. 

The corners of her mouth twitched upward. "Tony, didn't your mom or dad have that talk with you?"

"Very funny," he said. "You're joking, right?"

She put the second piece of paper in his hand. He opened it and found it was a printout of the lab results of her blood tests. It confirmed what she said. She was pregnant. 

He shook his head. First she comes in and tells him she's quitting, then she tells him it's because she's pregnant? He just couldn't believe it. Not Pepper. 

"Ok I get it," he said, "There's hidden cameras around here, right? Is Ashton Kutcher about to jump out?" he looked around. 

"It's not a joke, Tony," she said evenly. "It's true. I'm pregnant and after a lot of thought, I've decided I'm going to keep it. That's why I can't be your assistant anymore. I can't keep these kinds of hours with a baby. I can't be jetting off to Hong Kong with only 3 hours notice. I can't work till 10pm on a Saturday night. Just maternity leave alone is 6 weeks. You can't keep yourself out of trouble for one week, let alone six. The sooner we get a replacement trained, the better."

"Wait a minute. Just wait. You're *really* pregnant? Like really? How did this happen? Why didn't you tell me you were seeing someone?" he asked, his voice taking a higher pitch. 

Pepper hesitated. He still didn't remember. She was honestly surprised. She had hoped he would remember on his own by now, but it looked like he was never going to. She should tell him now, she knew. It would be the ethical thing to do. But she remembered how much of a target she already was. His reactions to other unexpected pregnancies. He would be angry and he was already upset. Maybe now wasn't the time. 

"I'm not," she said flatly. 

"Well, what then?" he asked. "You're carrying the next messiah? Is this a virgin birth or something?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Why? Because I'm so repulsive no guy would ever want me, is that it? The idea is that alien?" 

"What? Pepper, no absolutely not," he insisted. 

(I want you) 

"Or do you think I'm a cold, frigid bitch like you told me I once?" Her voice rose slightly. 

"No, Pepper, I don't. And you know damn well I said that when I was high, and it was before I went to rehab," he said. "I would never say or imply something like that now, and I didn't mean it then. I just don't understand how this happened if you aren't seeing someone." 

"The same way it happened to you before," she said tonelessly. 

Tony winced. "A random fling? Pepper that's not like you, you don't have flings." 

 

"I have before," she said meeting his eyes. 

"Yeah like twice in ten years," he said. "When did this happen?" 

Pepper hesitated again. Again, she knew the right thing to do would be to come clean with him right now. This was her second opportunity so far in the entire conversation. But as before, she stalled and for the same reasons. She didn't believe that Tony would want the child. He would be angry that she didn't tell him about the night of his party. She and the baby would be targets for anyone who hated him if they knew it was his. 

"I'm nearly out of the first trimester," she said. "Recently enough." 

"Who is it?" he asked. 

Again Pepper deflected. "It doesn't matter now, it's over. There was never any future anyway." 

"Does he know about this?" Tony asked. 

"Yes," Pepper answered truthfully. 

"And?"

"And what?" she asked, confused. 

"What did he say? Is he going to take responsibility for it?" Tony stared pointedly at her. 

"Well," she hesitated. "We don't really have much of a future and.....he's not keen on kids....so....."

"Is that a no?" asked Tony with an irritated tone. "He just knocks you up and walks off, is that it?" 

"It's not like that," she argued. "And you've done your own share of walking."

Tony took a step back and glared at her. She was right and he knew it. That's what irritated him. But this was different. This was Pepper. 

"This isn't about me," he glowered. "I was an ass back then and I haven't had something like this happen in years. This is about you. So what you're telling me is you had a one night stand with a guy who got you pregnant and walked? And because of this, I'm going to lose the best assistant I've ever had and....the best friend I ever had? Is that what you're saying?"

Pepper couldn't take it anymore. She turned and walked to the window, looking out, fighting back tears. It was hard hearing him talk this way, knowing what she knew. 

"You don't have one night stands, Pepper," he insisted. "Why now?" 

"I have before," she repeated. "Just not as many as you. It was a major lapse in judgment. It won't happen again."

"He must have been pretty charming if you went for it. After years of rejecting my attempts, that is," Tony grumbled. 

She whipped around. "You know, not everything is about you. This is about me and my life. You're not factoring in the moment." 

"So I don't mean anything?" he asked. "You really just want to leave?"

"I don't want to leave," she said, "but I don't see how I can stay. People have talked about us for over a decade. You know what everyone will say when they find out. I'm already a target since you told everybody you were Iron Man. How much more of a target is a baby? Even without all of that, how can I be an effective assistant to you if I am constantly having to deal with a baby on my own?" 

Tony blanched at her mentioning the kind of danger they would be in because of him. And she was right about the rumor mill. He never considered all of that. His thoughts had not extended much beyond her telling him she was leaving. 

"I thought about getting rid of it," she confessed. 

His eyes met hers again. 

"It would have been so much easier," she said. "No rumors, no danger, I could just go on like...like nothing ever happened. I could just forget...."

She trailed off and turned away. "But," she continued, "I'm 36 years old. I don't have much more time. If I'm ever going to have kids, well, this might be my only chance."

"When did you decide to go Martha Stewart instead of businesswoman?" asked Tony. 

 

"Shortly after I decided I didn't want to be 60 years old and alone," she said. "Christmases, vacations, someone to look after you when you get old. Someone who loves you unconditionally because you love them that much?" 

She angrily wiped away the tears that were starting to escape. Tony had to admit he was having a hard time not following suit. He had never heard her talk this way before. He didn't even know this was something she considered. He had never given much thought to having a family himself, in fact he had actively avoided it. He considered his own upbringing a poor example of how to parent a child and didn't want to inflict it on another person. Then, after becoming Iron Man, he figured he would probably die well before his time anyway. But it is only now that he started to think about Pepper and what she would do if he were gone. She would be alone, he realized. The thought made his heart hurt. But it hurt him worse to think that she thought this way about her situation now. 

"Pepper, you're not alone," he said. 

She just shook her and did not turn around to face him. "Yes I am," she whispered. 

"Who is he?" asked Tony. 

She turned to face him. "Why? So you can go defend my honor and pound him into the ground?"

"Yes," Tony said simply. 

She had a sudden mental image of the scene from the end of the movie Fight Club where Edward Norton's character is beating himself up in the alley. She shook her head. 

"Is it someone I know?" he pressed. 

"Why does it matter now?" she evaded. 

"I want to know," he insisted. "I also want to know why you told him yes after a decade of telling me no. He can't be better looking." 

She felt her temper flare. "I don't want to talk about it. It's not your business anyway." 

He narrowed his eyes in response, "He must be a smooth talker. What were the magic words he used that I never did? Please don't tell me he told you he loved you. I know you wouldn't fall for that. If he did love you, where is he now? Why do you get to go on this ride alone?"

"You're a bastard," she snapped. "Butt out Tony. It doesn't matter who he is or where he is now."

(He’s right in front of me)

She spun on her heel, hoping he didn't see the tears starting down her face, and headed for the door. "I'm going to pack up my office while I'm still physically able to."

Tony felt himself go cold. He jumped ahead of her and blocked the door. He saw her tears and hated himself for causing them. He couldn't let her leave, not like this. 

"Move," she choked. 

"No, wait. I'm an ass, OK? I'm a jerk, I shouldn't have said that. I'm...I'm sorry," he rushed. "Please don't go. Pepper....you're my friend, you're my best friend. Don't go like this."

She was disconcerted to see tears in his eyes. He was fighting valiantly to hold them back as most men did. He angrily brushed the back of his fist across his eyes to keep them at bay. 

"Why?" she asked. "Is there anything more to say? I'm having the baby. I can't be a mom and your assistant and I'd be a target for the media and anyone you've pissed off, ever. It's better if I go."

"I disagree," he said. 

"Naturally," she scoffed. 

"No really. This can be done. I've seen you do lots of things I didn't think could be done," he hurried on. "You can stay, you don't have to leave, and I’ll make it work. You won't have to go everywhere with me, and I'll try not to take so many trips. You can keep whatever hours you want. I'll even come into the office every day if you need me to. I'll even do my work. On time."

"Wow, you must be desperate," she quipped. "But this isn't short term here. This is for life. This isn't a temporary inconvenience. Any changes would have to be permanent. The baby will come first, Tony. Not you. I still think it’s better if I left."

"What would it take to get you to stay?" he pleaded. "If you're worried about the media and office gossip, I can handle it..."

"It isn't just that," she cut in. "It's staying safe mostly."

"I can come up with something, I promise. For you and the...the baby," he stammered, still not quite believing it. 

Pepper’s shoulders slouched. Tony could be persuasive when he wanted to be, she knew that all too well, and it didn't help that she didn't really want to leave in the first place and was emotionally beaten down already. He wouldn’t leave this conversation here if she walked out now, he’d give her no peace until she agreed to stay. Her plan of leaving involved leaving right away before he could do any of that. The thought of striking out somewhere on her own, though, and leaving her job, home and friends behind, to go have a baby and take on single motherhood by herself was terrifying and lonely. But it seemed the safest option. But if Tony could make it easier for her, could she stay? 

Maybe she could stay for a little while longer. She wouldn't be showing for a while and Tony could keep it under wraps until then. She knew he would. But she didn't see how she could stay in the long run. It just wasn't safe. And Tony didn't know the truth. It sort of hurt that he hadn't remembered or guessed it was his. She had gone to lengths to not reveal anything and she didn't much like herself for it. She didn't want to leave under these terms either. She could put it off for a few months. 

"Ok Tony, I'll stay for now," she said. "But I don't see how I can stay much longer. I just don't see me with a baby fitting in here or with you. And it isn't safe. When I start showing, I'm gone."

Tony shook his head. He wouldn't accept that. "You really want this baby?" 

"Yes," she said firmly. 

"Ok then, we can make this work. I'll come up with something to keep you safe. Just give me a chance," he said. 

She stopped breathing for a second. That was what he had said to her, that he didn't remember, before she went to bed with him. She didn't know if she could. She sniffed. 

"Hey come on," he said trying to lighten the mood, "this could be worse. This isn't as bad as the time I was nearly executed in Yemen. Remember that?" 

She snorted. "Only you would nearly get yourself beheaded for scoring with the fifth wife of a powerful sheik while on a business trip."

"In my defense, I thought she was his daughter. Something got lost in the translation," he joked. 

"That wouldn't have improved the situation," Pepper scolded. "I had to buy that bastard two Lear jets and a gold plated Audi to get your ass released."

"And it was appreciated greatly," he said. "After a week awaiting death in a Yemeni prison, you coming to get me out, I thought I was seeing an angel."

She blushed a bit, which wasn't lost on Tony. 

"Are we done here?" she asked.

"Are you going to stay?" he replied. 

"For now, yes," she said. "But no promises." 

He nodded. As she turned to go, impulsively he reached out and caught her into a hug. Surprised she tried to pull away, but after a minute, relaxed into it. It was just a hug after all, nothing more. Gently, she extracted herself, gave him one last look, then left to return to her office. Tony watched her go, still not believing what had just happened. She was pregnant. She certainly didn't look it yet, but she was. He was still holding the test results, which he shoved into a pocket. 

When the door closed behind her, Tony went to his sofa and sat down and put his hands over his eyes. How could this be happening? How could Pepper be pregnant by another man? To say he was jealous would be an understatement. Pepper had had a boyfriend when she first came to work for him, but they had broken up a few months later. She had gone on a few dates since then, and he knew of only two brief flings she had allowed herself at some of his parties in the earlier years she worked for him. But in recent years, she eschewed dating entirely and focused on keeping him in line. It relieved him in a way to know that if he couldn't have her, at least nobody else was either. Ever since he had come back from captivity, he had thought of Pepper constantly. He wanted her in his life, not as a fling, but as something real, something long term. He had never really had a long term committed relationship and he was scared to try, but he knew the random sex with strangers thing was beyond old. He just wasn't interested in anyone else. He wanted Pepper. 

But now, she had apparently given some other man the seat Tony wanted for himself. Some other man had taken what Tony couldn't have, and had gone, leaving her pregnant and looking to leave her job with him and his life entirely. Because of that unnamed creep, Tony's life was suddenly unraveling along with Pepper's. Because of that anonymous man, Tony was facing losing his best friend, the one person he couldn't imagine not being in his life. Hot anger rose up in his chest. 

Who was it, he wondered. He suspected it was someone he knew, given Pepper's response. He briefly considered Happy or Rhodey, since they were pretty close to Pepper too. But he shook off that idea. Neither of those two men would be the coward this guy apparently was and run off and leave her. Both of them would handle their business if it was either of them. 

'Unlike me' he thought bitterly. 

For the first time ever, he felt real remorse at his sexual past and for the five women he had been the cowardly jerk to. Most of them were keen to end the pregnancies, but what if one of them hadn't? Would he be a father today? Would he have stood by the girl and the child? With a certain amount of shame, he knew he wouldn't have. It had taken nearly dying at the hands of brutal terrorists and three months of captivity to shed those aspects of his personality. 

He didn't know who Pepper's anonymous lover had been, but he resolved to find out. Whoever it was, he was going to face some consequences. As for keeping Pepper and her baby safe, his mind was already racing with possibilities. But most importantly, he resolved, he was going to stick by her and support her. She must be scared and lonely facing this alone. He didn't want her to leave and was willing to do anything to make her stay. Work from home? Fewer hours? No traveling? He could handle all that. Hell, he might even see about starting up an employee daycare for the children of employees so they could be here in the building with their parents. Pepper's baby could stay nearby during the day, and he bet Charissa would also appreciate that for her kids. 

He had not been man enough to take responsibility for the pregnancies he had started. But he could do something about Pepper's. He wanted her to stay and she only would if it were better and safer than leaving. She was the best friend he ever had. He cared about her. 

(Who am I kidding? I love her)

He was going to help her any way he could. Even if it wasn't his child she was carrying. Tony felt raw pain in his heart and realized that, for the first time in his life, upon hearing a woman was pregnant, wished it *were* his.


	4. Chapter 4

Tony sat on the sofa in his workshop staring at the wall, saying nothing. JARVIS had asked him twice already if he was ok and he replied that he was. He was holding a glass of scotch, a reflex reaction to pour himself some any time he was stressed, but he had barely sipped on it. His mind was in an uproar. 

He just couldn't believe it. Pepper was always so careful ensuring his past sexual escapades involved condoms and oversight. How could she have failed to follow "procedure" herself? And why would she have a one night stand? It was just so unlike her. Not that she hadn't before, it just wasn't routine. She had dated a few times, and he assumed it wasn't celibate dating, but she pursued it less in recent years, almost like she had given up trying.

Tony had to admit that the real problem he had with this whole scenario was that it appeared to him that Pepper had simply been feeling frisky and apparently had not even considered coming to him. That hurt. It actually hurt his feelings. He asked himself now if this was what Pepper experienced seeing him with other women. What if he had had to attend the guy Pepper had been with the next morning, get his dry cleaning, even be civil to him? Tony shook his head, he couldn't have done it. It hurt too much, giving him a new appreciation for Pepper's will and fortitude. It must have hurt her terribly, assuming she felt for him even a fraction of what he felt for her.

It's not like they were an item, though, and reasonably, his past was enough to make any woman scoff at the idea of a long term relationship with him. But had she even thought about him? Considered him? The irony was not lost on him that his perpetual lack of commitment and fear of being hurt had led him to pursue casual sex just for the brief and fleeting illusion of intimacy, even with a stranger. The flip side to this was that he did it so often, no woman in her right mind could take him seriously if he indicated that he really wanted something serious, real and long term. Especially if that woman had been the one doing all the cleaning up after him. Pepper, more than anyone, had seen the ugly side of Tony's extracurricular activities and had every reason to want to keep herself distant, even if she had feelings for him. She had good reason to question his motives when he had roundabout suggested being his girlfriend right before his epic Iron Man press conference. 

Even amidst his disappointment that she had turned him down and walked away that day, deep down Tony had still believed he had a chance with her, if he could prove himself to her. It was going to have to involve him cleaning up his act. The drinking and partying and philandering would have to stop, especially if he wanted to convince her that he was stable enough for a commitment and was serious about adopting a "one woman for the rest of my life and that's you" policy towards her. It had actually been easier than he had thought to pursue celibacy for over 8 months so far. He was tired of the random fling thing, it did nothing for him anymore, and he wasn't too eager to show the whole world the hunk of glowing metal residing in his chest. In fact, only a few people had ever even seen it and only Pepper had touched it with permission. Rhodey had even commented on it once, how Tony was usually so fond of showing off to the world any new invention of his, but oddly this one was kept snugly under wraps. Secretly, Tony wondered how much of a shock his arc reactor would be to a total stranger, who hadn't been warned. He feared a disgusted reaction in the event his shirt had to come off.

But Pepper had not turned away when he had needed her help, even if she was afraid and mildly grossed out by the plasmic discharge. He remembered the night they had danced, and then nearly kissed on the balcony. He had seen the look in her eyes, no longer hidden behind her walls that normally kept him out. No doubt that look was mirrored in his own eyes when he looked at her. He knew there had been a seed there that had the potential to blossom into something stable and passionate, if they had the courage to try. He knew she was afraid of him hurting her, but he was equally afraid of letting her in for good. He had never had a committed relationship last longer than a month before, and after Obadiah's betrayal, Pepper was on the short list of who he could trust absolutely, but it still scared him that she could have the power to hurt him that badly. He was none too pleased to find out they didn't even need to be dating for that to happen. Hearing she was pregnant by another man cut at him deeply. He wondered if that seed of potential was even still there, or had it left the building with Mr. Anonymous Sperm Donor? And most importantly, Tony had to ask himself, did he still want her now, given that she now had some serious baggage? 

He weighed the situation and numerous possible scenarios in his head and their outcomes before he had to admit to himself that he did still want her. The reasons he loved her went beyond sexual reasons. He loved her face, her smile, her glare, the lilt in her voice, her intelligence and her spirit. Her sky blue eyes could see right through him, but behind them was a soul motivated by kindness at her core. None of this went away because of a physical condition or the child it was going to result in. No, it was really the baby itself that Tony had to come to terms with. He could mentally and emotionally get past the idea of her with another man, especially if things ended up working out with her in his favor in the long run. But the baby was an anchor to that man for the rest of her life, a reminder that she had chosen someone else. What would he feel when he looked at this baby or the person it grew into? Would he see his best friend looking back at him, with the same red hair and blue eyes and smile, or the man who had taken the place Tony had wanted? 

Logically, he knew the baby was certainly not to be blamed for anything, but Tony still felt resentment. Its very presence had derailed his hopes and plans with Pepper and would ensure complications from here on out. But if he truly loved Pepper, could he love her child, even if it was another man's? He wasn't sure he knew the answer. He knew convincing Pepper to give him a real shot would include the baby in the plan. He would be the predominant male figure in this kid's life. Did he want that? His own father had been borderline abusive in sternness and mostly neglectful. Tony didn't factor into Howard's plans for his own life and it had left permanent damage on Tony. Was he doomed to do that to a kid himself? Or could he avoid his father's mistakes?

(Am I seriously contemplating fatherhood? To a kid that isn't mine? For the sake of a girl who doesn't want me? And what if Mr. Anonymous comes back?)

Tony stared up at the ceiling. Seeing himself in a fatherly role was nearly as weird as seeing Pepper in a motherly one. To be honest, he had never really thought of Pepper as anyone's mother before. The very nature of sex made motherhood a distinct possibility for any woman engaging in sex, including some of the bimbos he had dug up for a night. The problem was, it was nearly impossible to think of Pepper as a mother, rocking a baby, and warming up bottles, without also thinking of her having sex to get there. He couldn't help it. He frequently thought of Pepper having sex....with him. He had imagined them in all sorts of situations, locales, various states if emotion and a range of aftermath scenarios. But she was pregnant by another man, which meant at least one of those scenarios had come to reality, minus Tony. To put simply, he felt robbed. 

He closed his eyes and tried to dredge up an image of Pepper in his mind, one of his favorite fantasies, about the two of them in a secluded beach somewhere in Hawaii, rolling around in the surf together, minus their swimsuits. But unfortunately, the shadowy image of an anonymous man with her instead filled his mind. He forced it away and tried to pull up another. Then, unbidden, came the image that had been invading his mind several times in the last month. Pepper sitting across from him, leaning in to him for a kiss, then suddenly her under him, on the sofa, kissing him passionately. This image felt different. It wasn't one he fabricated as a fantasy, and yet his physical response to it was almost immediate. Although far less racy than his other fantasies, this image of Pepper turned him on, and fast too. He figured it must be the snippet of a forgotten wet dream about her. He kept searching his mind for it, but it seemed just out of reach, like a forgotten memory. 

"Tony? Are you ok?" came the voice out of thin air. 

He jumped nearly out of his skin as he sat up and looked around. Colonel James Rhodes stood directly in front of him, staring at him. 

"How the hell did you get in here? Sneaking up on me now?" said Tony, mildly irritated at his friend. 

"I got in because you gave me security clearance," Rhodey said. "And JARVIS announced me, didn't you hear him?"

"Mr. Stark appeared to be deeply in thought, Colonel," replied JARVIS. 

Tony shrugged and looked away. 

"You're about where I expected to find you. And how I expected to find you," Rhodey said, looking at the glass. 

"Actually I've only had a few sips. Habit. You want it?" Tony said, handing the glass in his friend's direction. 

Rhodey shook his head. "Not at one in the afternoon."

Tony scoffed. "You're not on duty. But there's beer in the fridge."

Rhodey went over to the refrigerator and pulled out a beer, and twisted it open barehanded. 

"Show off," mumbled Tony as his friend sat in the chair across from him. "You talked to Pepper?"

Rhodey nodded. "She called me right after she talked to Happy. Is it for real? I hope it is, because apparently Happy's gone shopping for some Steelers baby clothes, something about starting the kid off right with sports. I’d hate to think of Hap baby clothes shopping without good reason."

Tony just nodded. 

Rhodey shook his head. "Damn. Pepper of all people. She's so careful about everything else. Hard to believe. You holding up OK?" 

"Yeah," Tony said, taking another sip. "Did she tell you who the father was?"

Rhodey shook his head. "I asked her but she would only say it was a one night stand and she didn't want to talk about it." 

Tony nodded and said, "Yeah that's all she told me too."

Rhodey looked sharply at him. "Seriously? She didn't even tell you? Nothing? I thought for sure she'd tell you."

Tony shook his head. 

Rhodey looked at him pointedly for a minute, then said slowly, "Tony, is there....is there any possibility it's you?"

Tony's head snapped up. "What? Are you mental? No!"

Rhodey shrugged and said "Is it that hard to believe? I thought you two would figure it out years ago, let alone by now. Honestly it's hard to be in the same room with you two sometimes." 

Tony looked at his friend like he had grown three heads. "If I had gotten down with Pepper, don't you think I would have called you five minutes after to brag? It's not mine." 

Rhodey narrowed his eyes, "That's what's so weird about this. You two adore each other, why would Pepper go have a fling? Doesn't make sense. And why wouldn't she say who it is if it's nobody important?"

"Pepper shoots me down when I ask her out. She has for years. And I figure it's someone I know and she doesn't want me to go lay him out or something." Tony set the glass down, not really interested. "Honestly for a second I wondered if it could be you. Or Happy."

Rhodey laughed a real laugh. "Me? Man you are paranoid. Pepper's like a sister to me and Happy, it would be too weird. But thanks for the vote of confidence. But no, Marcy would kill her, then me."

"You guys back together? I thought you broke up? Something about long distance relationships never working?" Tony said. 

"Yeah well, we're giving it another try," said Rhodey. "She's worth it. I wasn't ready to let her go just yet."

Tony grinned and said, "Well, you struck gold there for sure, buddy. Marcy's hot. And for some reason I can't fathom, she's crazy about you."

Tony couldn't be sure, but it appeared his friend's dark skin got a shade darker as he grinned and said, "Yeah well I can't figure out why a hot, smart girl like Pepper seems so hung up in a dick like you either. But Marcy's more than just looks, she's, well.....she's just her, you know?"

"Yeah," said Tony quietly. "But if Pepper's so hung up on me, why is she having someone else's baby?"

"I don't know, man," said Rhodey shaking his head. "I admit, that floors me. You sure it's not yours?"

"I think I'd remember sleeping with Pepper, dude," Tony said dismissively. 

Rhodey looked like he wanted to say something at that, but instead said, "So what happens now? I mean you know everyone's going to say it’s yours. And what about you two? I mean is the guy around?"

"I don't think so," said Tony. "And people can say what they want. I told Pepper I'd find a way to keep them safe from whack jobs. As for us? I don't know, seems like gestating some other guy's child is a pretty strong indication she's not interested in me, you know."

"You really are dense, you know that?" Rhodey said with irritation. "If you believe that, you need to get that IQ of yours rechecked, ‘cause somebody obviously screwed up your previous one. Pepper's crazy about you. You didn't hear her voice, you know, when I called her to tell her we'd lost you in Afghanistan. She was frantic. She was...she took it hard, man. And then when I called her to tell her we found you and you were alive. She cried you know. It wasn't all that long ago. I know you've carried a torch for her for years and I know you weren't abstaining during all that time. All those other girls meant you don't like Pepper? Anyone can have an accident. Or a lapse in judgment."

Tony didn't say anything but Rhodey could tell his remark about liking Pepper while pursuing other girls had hit home. 

"If she wanted some, she knows where I am. Why didn't she come find me? If she wants me and all that, why does she keep turning me down?" said Tony.

"Someone like Pepper doesn't usually just want 'some,' they want 'all that.' She probably turns you down for the same reason I was stupid enough to let Marcy walk last time. You figure it's doomed from the start, so why drag it out or even start if it's all going to end up going to hell anyway? But then you realize quick you can't get through the day without driving yourself nuts thinking about them." Rhodey sounded matter of fact.

Tony sighed. "So what am I supposed to do now? Pretend this isn't happening? Pretend I'm ok with it? I don't see any way I can get things with Pepper where I want them. Everything's so mixed up."

"Well just think how she feels," said Rhodey. "In love with her best friend, pregnant by someone else. She's probably figuring any chance she had with you is gone now. Most people figure a girl pregnant with someone else's kid is a recipe for trouble and not worth the effort."

"That's stupid," scoffed Tony. "She knows me better than that."

"Does she?" asked Rhodey. "Don't assume she does, man. Pregnant women do a lot of crazy thinking they don't normally do. And before you say she's not in love with you, or has a funny way of showing it, remember you haven't behaved all that differently towards her. Just remember, from this point on, any relationship Pepper has is going to involve that kid. She's going to be approaching it like a job interview, or ‘is this guy daddy material?’ If she has any thought about you taking off and hurting her and the kid, well, she's not going to go for it. You'll have to convince her you're in for the long haul. Honestly, you two are almost painful to watch. I need to go watch like five Julia Roberts movies just to shake your bad romance vibes."

"Better be drunk when you do," Tony quipped. 

"I think that goes without saying," said Rhodey.

"Oh well," said Tony. "I guess a kid could do worse than us and Happy as role models. With Happy to teach it about sports and cars, me to teach it about science and tech, you to teach it how to be a patriot and a decent person, and Pepper for everything else important, it might turn out to be sort of stable a person. And well-rounded."

Rhodey said softly, "You'd make a decent father, you know. Better than your old man anyway."

"I'd only screw a kid up," Tony said bitterly. "This one is better off with a father who walked out on it than a mess like me. The best I can do is keep it safe from freaks."

"So how are you going to keep Pepper and the baby safe?" asked Rhodey. 

Tony smiled a real smile and jumped up from his chair, heading for the nearest holo screen. "I've been working on it all week. It's going to take a while to fabricate, but come look at this."

\---------------------

Lauren and Charissa stood in Pepper's office, the door firmly closed, side by side staring at her with their mouths slightly open. They were still stunned at what she had told them. 

"So um, yeah....that's about it," said Pepper, feeling a blush start at the base of her neck and start creeping up to her face. 

"How far along are you?" asked Charissa. 

"About 8 weeks," Pepper replied. 

"Well that explains the nausea. Any cravings yet?" asked Charissa. 

"Never mind that," said Lauren, "This is going to be a PR nightmare. People have talked about her and the boss for years. Entertainment Weekly is going to be camped out on the front lawn. This is going to be only slightly less crazy than Tony telling the whole world he's flying around being a superhero in a mechanized tin can he threw together in his basement. What do you want us to do, Pepper?"

"I'm going to have to let everyone know eventually, but until then, it stays in this office. Clear?" Pepper looked at them both carefully as they nodded. "I want to give us some time to prepare. Charissa, draw up some official statements. I'll give you some talking points later and the official story if anyone asks. We'll stick to that. Lauren, you'll be screening phone calls. I apologize in advance for the loonies who will be calling. It'll be crazy for a while until people lose interest, which, depending on if something blows up in Washington or Brangelina splits, could be a few weeks to a few months. I'm hoping it'll die down when public interest moves on to the next big story."

"Ok. I'll get on working on some press releases. And I'll dig out some of my kids' baby clothes for you. I mean, I know you can probably afford brand new monogrammed designer clothes, but it's like tradition. Every kid needs some hand me downs," said Charissa. 

Pepper smiled a real, grateful smile. "Thanks, that's cool. And I may be calling you for advice."

"Bring it on, I'm a pro by now. I have three," Charissa replied. 

Lauren smiled but then her expression turned stern. "Guys, this is sweet and all, but can we focus in more important stuff? What's Tony's official position on this?"

"Officially, Tony doesn't have a position. It's not his problem," said Pepper. 

"How can it not be his problem?" asked Lauren. "Isn't it his? I mean, isn't   
he.."

"Lauren," Pepper cut her off, "Office rumor aside, Tony and I are friends and professional colleagues. Nothing more. It's how we've always been. This was a lapse of judgment on my part brought on by too many martinis resulting in a brief fling. I'll spare you the details. It's in the past now. He's concerned about how all of this is going to change how I work for him, but we're hammering out the details. Beyond that, there's nothing to say regarding my pregnancy and Tony."

Both women looked surprised, but said nothing. 

"Any questions?" asked Pepper. 

They shook their heads. 

"Ok then. That's it for now. We'll meet again about this in about a month or so. I want to ride this anonymity bus as long as I can. But I figure we'll have to say something official once I start showing. Anyway, thanks ladies. And remember, let's keep this under wraps," said Pepper. 

With quick hugs, the two women turned and left Pepper's office, closing the door behind them. Once they were out of earshot, and ensuring no one was around to overhear, Charissa turned to Lauren. 

"You think she's lying about it not being Tony's?" she asked. 

"Oh yeah, she totally is," said Lauren. "Pepper couldn't lie convincingly if her life depended on it. But you notice something? She didn't actually lie. She never said he wasn't." 

Charissa only nodded.


	5. Chapter 5

"Tony have you lost your mind?" asked Pepper. 

"I don't think so," Tony replied. "I mean not recently, why?"

Pepper stood in the doorway to Tony's basement workshop and looked around, her eyebrows threatening to disappear into her hairline. His workspace was always chaotic, but now it looked like a tornado had hit it. Even the bots were having a hard time rolling around everything spread out over the floor and every flat surface. She carefully stepped over some open delivery boxes with components she didn't recognize to step inside the workshop and tried to take it all in. Tony was obviously in a frenzy of creating, with various projects all going on at once. 

Some areas looked like he had a general robotics project going on, and other areas had circuit boards and electronics laid out in some fashion, but some projects were utterly beyond her. But what caught her eye were the obvious baby-related projects, indicated by some baby crash test dummies in a corner, a car seat with various electronics attached to it, and what looked like a high chair with miniature robotic arms attached to it. Tony was at one of the holo imagers, bent over what looked like an architectural schematic. He looked up at the sound of her voice and smiled a wide smile. 

She was utterly beautiful. She was in her fourth month and had attained that "pregnancy glow" people talked about. It had been two months since she had informed their closest associates about her pregnancy and so far, they were the only ones who knew. They had met to discuss how Pepper would "come out" about the baby, if she even needed to, and what official positions would be taken on the matter. She continued to say she would put off any announcement until she started to show and couldn't avoid it. She had also contended for a few weeks that she was not staying, but only long enough to find a replacement. 

But Tony was not even going to consider her leaving. At first, it had been hard to get her back into routines that included coming to his house. She had stayed away for several weeks before finally starting to come around again. Tony had forced the issue when he had come back banged up from a mission again, requiring her assistance, which meant throwing on clothes at 11pm and driving to his house to wrench him out of the suit. The entire time she was doing it, she was reminding him that once the baby came, she couldn't do this anymore. Tony noticed, though, that as more time passed and she got back into her routine and interacting with him, that there was less talk of her leaving. She hardly mentioned it now, and if he brought it up, she just shrugged and said nothing. He was hoping that what he was working on would make her feel secure enough to stay for sure. 

He stared at her as she looked around. Her hair was lush and volumous and her cheeks had a rosy glow. Since she was in the second trimester now, most of the nausea had passed, although she had aversions to certain foods instead of cravings. Her clothes were fitting tighter, so she mostly wore loose, stretchy dresses that hid her stomach that Tony noticed was definitely more rounded, ever so slightly. 

He thought she looked beautiful, although he did not want to say so. He didn't want her to take it the wrong way. Although he readily admitted he could stare at her all day even before all these physical changes she was going through, now he actively had to stop himself from gaping at her. He was just so happy that she had not left that he had really come to appreciate her even more. At first, she had wanted to stick to the office and not really come by his house, for some reason. She had denied avoiding working at his house, even though she obviously was. However, when she started coming back to work at his house? and at the office, things seemed to sort of go back to normal. She had even started to come out of whatever funk she was in and start bantering with him again and even laughing at some of his jokes. Oddly enough, they didn't talk too much about the pregnancy at first. Because she had not really been showing before now, the pregnancy was still an abstract concept to Tony. For him, it was like hearing that somebody had six toes. It was merely a piece of information until you actually saw it. Aside from the fact that she seemed slightly more moody, there was really no obvious change in her, at first. 

It wasn't until Tony actually looked hard that he noticed how she had changed already. He also couldn't help but wonder if anyone else had noticed. He knew she wanted to keep quiet about her condition as long as possible, but she wasn't going to be able to do so much longer. After he had finally been able to mentally accept that she was pregnant, he had thrown himself into researching that topic to the point of having medical school level knowledge of the human pregnancy. It was a topic that had never before interested him at all, beyond being determined to avoid starting one, but now he was determined to become an expert in it for her sake. What he knew about it told him that within the next couple of weeks, people were going to notice. He wished he could shield her from what he knew was coming, but it hurt to know that he likely would not be able to. He didn't blame her for wanting to hide. He also felt some strange sensations coming over himself these last few weeks. He felt strangely drawn to her in a way he couldn't explain, more so than before and more powerful. More than once, he had to stop himself physically from getting up and going over to her and putting his arms around her to cuddle her. He figured she'd probably slap him if he did. 

He had a streak of protectiveness controlling him now that he found interesting but also a little alarming. As near as he could tell, it was a normal reaction for the male partners of pregnant women to experience their own hormone fluctuations and changes in mood and attitude, which Tony found odd considering he wasn't the father. On the other hand, he was around Pepper no less than 12 hours a day, so he figured he was just picking up on any pheromones she was giving off. That and there really was no one else assuming the position usually occupied by the male mate, so it seemed natural that it should fall to him to look after her. At first, Tony kept waiting for Mr Anonymous to turn back up again, declare undying love for Pepper and excitement for, or at least resignation to and recognition of, his child. Despite Pepper's assurances that that was not going to happen, Tony still annoyed himself daily with mental images of the unknown guy just showing up out of the blue and taking Pepper away. But as time went on, Tony became more relieved, and more irritated with the unseen man. He obviously had washed his hands of the entire matter and disappeared, and while Tony was relieved he had no immediate competition for Pepper, he was still pissed at the situation she had been left in, and by extension had put him in. He wondered if the man would be brought to light once Pepper was known publicly to be pregnant?

He shook his head. He'd worry about that later. Right now he wanted to just bask in her image, of her carefully picking her way around his various projects to his work table. 

"Is any of this work related?" she asked with a knowing, slightly amused look. 

Tony fought off the urge to look sheepish and adopted a confident air. "Of course it is!" he said. "Or it will be soon. Come have a look at this."

Pepper moved around the table to come stand next to him. Tony gulped a deep breath and tried to ignore her floral scent creeping into his nostrils or how huggable she looked to him. or how he could feel her warmth so close to him. 

"Is that the Stark Industries main building?" she asked, looking at the holo imager. 

"Yep," said Tony. "I'm adding a wing here. It's for the daycare." He pointed to an addition on the holographic building that didn't exist on the real one. 

"Daycare?" she exclaimed. "You're putting in a daycare? For me?"

"Well, yes, but technically for all S.I. employees," he said. "I figure it's a new 21st century business model: 'the family friendly industry.' It'll be free for all employees, both full time and part time. It'll be four star rated and employ only the most qualified caretakers. Maybe some who can teach that Montessori method or something. We'll keep some pediatric nurses on staff and maybe even do field trips. It'll be a big help to all the parents on staff, and convenient to have their kids on site. Charissa already said she'd send her two youngest kids if we build it. And one lady down in marketing is nursing, apparently. Lauren told me. She can run down there on her breaks." 

"Tony, that's a massive and expensive project," she said hesitantly. "It's also something that needs to pass state inspection and accreditation not just once but every year. You'd have to hire a full time staff member just to oversee that. And the board would have to approve it. Are you sure you want to do all this? I mean, I don't even know if I'm going to stay..."

Tony stiffened, and said "Pep come on, we both know you're not going to leave. You said yourself you have nowhere else to go. You have a career here and friends, this is your home. You faced down Obi in the Iron Monger suit, you think you can't handle some nosy reporters? You'd eat them for breakfast. With ketchup. And you'd need backup, like if you ever needed an extra pair of hands. You can't call Lauren or Charissa or...me..for help from across the country if you get sick and need help with the baby. Can we please not talk about you leaving anymore? Please promise you'll stay. I know you don't want to go."

"You'd come juggle a fussy baby on your own if I ever came down with the flu?" she asked with an amused smile. 

"Well, yeah," he said. "I mean I escaped from a terrorist cell in a cave in the middle of Afghanistan, how hard could a baby be?"

Pepper thought of about five good responses, but bit her tongue. 

She turned away slightly and took a deep breath. "I'm scared. I'm scared to stay, scared to leave. Just. Scared."

Tony's heart did something funny and fluttering and he resisted the urge to throw his arms around her. Instead, he put a hand on her shoulder. She turned back towards him. He just nodded, understanding. 

Uncomfortable with the moment, Pepper gestured to all the other half finished projects around the room. 

"So what is all this and how is it work related?" she asked. 

Tony grinned. "well if you look over here," he said gesturing to the high chair, "you can see here that I made some modifications. I asked Charissa what was the hardest thing about having a baby and when she answered she said it was when her husband was working late and she had to try to feed the baby and eat herself. There will probably be times when you have to do that so I fixed this up for you. It's a robotic baby feeding highchair!"

Tony smiled proudly as he hit the button on the side of the chair and plopped a baby crash test dummy into the seat. The robotic arms on the sides came to life and came up holding a spoon and fork and a sippy cup. The first few motions of the robotic arms were fairly fluid as it maneuvered a spoon down into a bowl and up to the mouth of the crash test dummy. But Pepper flinched a bit when the third arm trying to hold the sippy cup to the crash test dummy ended up hitting it on the side of the head and poking it in the eye. 

"Um yeah," said Tony a bit sheepishly, "it does still need some work. I'll need to adjust a bit." 

Pepper bit back a laugh as the robotic arm dumped the water contents of the bowl on the dummy baby. 

"Right, moving on then," said Tony quickly, deactivating the robotic high chair as he hurried past. "Obi once sarcastically asked me if we were going to make baby bottles after I shut down the weapons manufacturing. I'm thinking the answer to that might just be yes. If I can get these prototypes functional, we might be on to a few new products here too."

She looked at him sideways but held her tongue. 

"This is a similar concept," he said, pointing to a changing table with robotic arms. He punched another button and the arms whirled to life, and began to change a baby dummy's diaper. But his grin turned to a slight frown when the arms tried to put the diaper on the baby's head and shoved an entire tube of diaper cream into its butt. 

"Yeah. Um. Right. That needs tweaking too," he said. He hurried past, dragging Pepper behind him so she wouldn't see the robot arms dousing the baby dummy with powder. 

"Over here you see I made some modifications on your standard car seat," said Tony, coming to stand in front of what looked like a futuristic car seat or space pod. 

"What on Earth is that?" she said eyeing the contraption with trepidation. 

"It's an improvement on car seat technology," Tony proudly. "Watch."

He grabbed another baby test dummy and dropped it into the seat and strapped it in. He then picked up the entire contraption and set it on a testing platform. 

"Um, Tony?" Pepper started, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. 

"No worries, you'll see," said Tony. He picked up a remote control device and said, "It's nearly impossible to predict every scenario, but we can plan for the major ones. To start with, the seat is completely waterproof in the event of submersion. If you drive off a bridge and the car goes into the water, a shield will come up and seal the seat. It has a one hour oxygen supply and a transponder which links back to JARVIS, and also monitors vital signs."

He pressed a button on the remote, and a plexiglass shield came over the front of the seat, completely sealing in the crash test dummy baby. 

"It's also fireproof and bulletproof, in addition to being waterproof." 

He pressed another button and Pepper had to squelch a yelp of fear, as robotic arms came up and lit off flamethrowers directly at the car seat. Then, they retreated, and new arms came up and fired bullets at the car seat as well. When the arms retreated back into the floor, they could see that the seat was completely undamaged. 

"Pretty neat, huh?" he asked with a grin. 

"I'm not sure 'neat' is the proper word," she said slowly. "Just where do you think I will be driving this baby? Into a war zone?"

"Hey there's no harm in being prepared for all contingencies," he said. "And that's not all either." 

"Uh oh," said Pepper, "I'm afraid to ask." 

"I also upped the crash test specifications. This thing can withstand three times the damage a normal car seat could. I tested it out on a rocket firing range down in Alameda. The thing flew over 300 yards and that wasn't a scratch on the test dummy," he said. 

"I'm not planning on taking it into space," said Pepper. 

"Hey you never know," said Tony, "aliens could invade in any moment."

Pepper scoffed. "Oh yeah really. And where would they invade, New York?"

"It's as good a place as any," said Tony. "But going back to impact survival. In the event of a cataclysmic car crash, this thing could certainly survive. But if the car ever blows up for any reason, I designed it to eject from the vehicle."

"Eject?" Pepper asked weakly. 

Tony hit another button and the car seat flew into the air. In the middle of the air, however, several airbags popped out to form a protective cocoon around the entire seat. It hit the ground and tumbled several feet before coming to a stop. Then, one by one, the airbags begin to deflate in succession, so that the seat ended up right side up. A transponder started to blink. 

"It rights itself through controlled airbag deflation, the same way NASA landed the Mars rovers right side up. And those were some seriously delicate robots too, had to withstand space travel and planetary entry. I used the same concept," said Tony, not seeing the expression on Pepper's face.

"All systems indicate the seat functioned perfectly and is transmitting location and vital data, sir," said JARVIS. "No life threatening trauma to infant indicated." 

"Ta-da!" Tony sang as he turned towards Pepper. "What?" he asked, seeing her horrified expression. 

"Tony! What the hell?!" she exclaimed. 

"You don't like it?" he asked softly. 

"It's not that I don't....I mean, isn't this overkill? An eject feature? And bulletproof? I was just going to get a Graco MyRide like Charissa has, or something. I mean this is sweet of you and all but...bulletproof?" she stammered. 

"I'm Iron Man, you're my best friend, this is my best friend's baby. Everyone's going to think it’s mine anyway. Plenty of people hate my ass. And I'm rich. Two words, Pepper: 'Lindbergh Baby.' You bet 'fireproof' and 'bulletproof.' With a transponder. I'm as worried as I know you have to be. Nothing's happening to your kid because it has the misfortune of it's mom being close to me," Tony said without a trace of humor. 

Pepper said nothing, but looked away. 

"Hey, we can always put it in the Bentley. I bet Happy will be doing some baby chauffeuring anyway," said Tony. "But what I really wanted to show you was this." 

He walked over to a workstation and picked up what looked like a thin baby hospital bracelet, only made of some sort of thin, silvery material. He handed it to Pepper. At first glance, it was fairly unassuming. In fact, it was rather attractive in a simplistic way. It also appeared to have a tiny, glowing jewel in the center that, on further inspection, turned out to be a tiny, miniature arc reactor. She smiled at the sight, as he gently took the bracelet back. 

"Well, it's uh...very pretty. It really is. But why do I suspect it isn't a bracelet?" she asked. 

"Because you know me too well?" he grinned. "It isn't just a bracelet. This goes on the baby three seconds after its born and stays on. You need a password voice activated by either you or me to get it off. It's a defense system. Watch."

He walked over and grabbed another baby test dummy. He snapped the bracelet on around the ankle and set it on the testing platform. 

"JARVIS, engage baby defense system for inanimate object," Tony ordered his AI. He then took up a heavy wrench and lobbed it straight at the test dummy's head. Pepper yelped, then stared as a sphere of blue suddenly appeared around the dummy. The wrench bounced off without ever hitting the dummy. 

Tony grabbed some throwing knives and threw them. Again, the projectiles bounced off the force field. Picking up the remote again, he activated the flame throwers and guns, showing how the force field absorbed them effortlessly, rendering them harmless. 

"Tony....oh my god!" Pepper exclaimed, clapping her hands over her mouth. 

"Cool huh? It's still a prototype, but it's functional. The force field stops any projectile coming in over a certain speed, but it isn't its only wicked cool feature," Tony said, his voice tinged with the usual excitement he adopted when in creation mode and his genius came forth. "It also has a transponder and a GPS. JARVIS knows where this bracelet is anywhere in the world within a couple of inches and it can't be cut off. Not without a diamond carbide cutting tool anyway. It monitors vitals too and transmits them to JARVIS. It can emit a sound beacon, and more. Remember that sound paralyzer Obi had? Well I incorporated a smaller version into the bracelet. I can remotely activate it if someone is carrying the baby away. It also has a taser function. It arcs away from the wearer's body, so it won't hit the baby, but it will drop anyone too close." 

"What if that someone is a daycare worker trying to change the baby's diaper or rock it to sleep?" asked Pepper. 

"Nah, for the most part it'll be in hibernation mode," he said. "The force field activates when fast incoming motion is detected, it's defensive. But the offensive stuff, like the weapons, those have to be controlled by the master bracelet. Or JARVIS."

"What if someone sneaks up slowly and tries to strangle or smother the baby," Pepper asked, having a hard time forming such terrible words.

Without a word, Tony activated one of the floor robot arms. He directed it to pick up the baby dummy by its neck and squeeze. Pepper watched in horror as the robotic arm complied, then gasped as, suddenly, some sort of silvery mesh came out if the bracelet and quickly covered the entire dummy body in what looked like a silvery body suit. The spreading mesh easily snapped the robotic claws away from the dummy's neck. 

"Nanite mesh," he said quietly. " It uses a lot of power, but is strong enough to break any grip. It can also form a dome over the baby's face to push away anything trying to smother. It's a last resort." 

Pepper was thunderstruck. This was the kind of device the military, or any high profile figure in the world, would pay millions for! Hell, the secret service alone would want one for the president, surely. If Tony had the capability to make something like this, why hadn't he made one before? Probably because he simply had lacked interest, and therefore, motivation. And he makes a prototype of something like this for her baby? She was speechless. 

"Wow," she said, not bothering to hide how impressed she was.

"That's...that's really astounding, Tony. But did you say you made two?"

He smiled widely at her praise. Then he walked over to his work space and picked up a black velvet box and handed it to her. Cautiously, she took it from him and opened it. Inside was a larger version of the baby's bracelet. It was really beautiful. It, too, had a miniature arc reactor set in the middle, but the bracelet itself was larger and seemed to have an intricate scrollwork embedded in the silvery material. 

"It works just like the baby's," said Tony, "but with a few more features. Yours can form the body sleeve for protection, and the force field and sound weapons, but it can also form metal objects, like knives. The nanites really aren't limited in what they can form, except for power. These little arc reactors only put out a fraction of what mine does. It can also function as a communication device, and links directly to JARVIS. It should....keep you safe."

Pepper was overwhelmed. She carefully slipped the bracelet on. When she had told Tony she had wanted to feel safe and for her baby to be protected, she figured he'd come up with GPS enabled pacifiers or something. She never dreamed he would come up with these things. She was blown away. Even her loud inner voice that gave rise to so many doubts about him and what he thought of her was silent. How could anyone question this? He didn't just want her to stay around, baby and all, but was willing to forgo a very lucrative potential patent to do it. How long had he been working on this? He was truly a genius. 

Impulsively, she stepped towards him and threw her arms around his neck. She bit back a soft sniffle as she buried her nose into his shoulder. Tony was beyond startled. Pepper didn't often voluntarily hug him, fearing he'd take it as a come on, which, in the past, he would have. He dropped his remote control device to the floor, and carefully wrapped his arms around her back, slowly lowering his face into her fiery hair. She was slender but strong, and she felt wonderful in his arms. And oddly familiar, as if they had done this before. They had hugged several times before, but Tony felt an odd sensation, sort of like déjà vu, at being this close to her, melting into her. She was also allowing herself to relax into him, something she didn't normally do. He could feel the unmistakable gentle rounding push of her pregnant belly against him. It gave him and odd, fuzzy feeling around his heart. He felt powerfully protective of her. It was not unlike what a cave man must have felt standing at the entrance to his cave, knowing his family was inside it behind him, and facing down a saber toothed tiger trying to get in. He just wanted to push her behind him and stand between her and the entire world. But more than that, he wanted to stay here forever, just holding her. She felt wonderful. 

Pepper, for her part, was overwhelmed with unexpected emotion. The lengths that he was going to for her, believing that the baby wasn't even his, consumed her with guilt for not being truthful with him about that night, and about him fathering her baby. What the hell had she been thinking? She should have told him immediately. What other man would have done this for her, for a child he didn't believe was his? It was just so totally sweet of him. How could she have thought he would reject her and the child? But now she was nearly five months along. When she told him the truth, he'd be really upset. He'd be angry. She didn't want that spoiling this moment with him. She didn't want to see his endearing pride in his endeavors for her give way to hurt and anger in his eyes when she told him what she had done. 

He deserved to know, but she was afraid to tell him. It would have been easier early on, she could beg pregnancy hormones and shock, and he probably would have accepted that, but too much time had already passed. She couldn't write it off as a momentary panic attack. She had had plenty of time to come to her senses and had chosen not too. 

She held still, feeling his arms hesitantly around her, thinking of the last time they had been. She flushed slightly, remembering. Her heart ached, and she longed for him. These last few months, facing the pregnancy more or less alone emotionally, had been lonely. She missed him, and she wanted to confess everything to him, what she had done, that she loved him, to please forgive her and not leave her, to want both her and their baby. She needed him, and nights especially were really lonely, lying in her bed, feeling the first flutters of what could be kicks, wishing Tony were there next to her, feeling them too. But even as she thought these things, she told herself it wasn't going to be. It was probably too late. If she were any kind if decent person, she'd tell him the truth right now and deal with the consequences. He'd probably never want to see her again. She'd have to face that too. 

"Pep? You OK?" he asked carefully, trying up keep the edge out of his voice and trying to ignore the traitorous swelling starting in his groin at her nearness. He rubbed her back, then gently, reluctantly, pushed her shoulders back and away from him. He looked down into her glistening eyes, feeling a rush of emotion for her. 

"Um, yeah," she said slowly. "It's just so...I mean wow, these are. Wow. Thanks so much, it means a lot to me." 

Tony beamed. It only made Pepper grit her teeth, knowing what she had to do next. 

"Tony, um...there's something important I need to tell you," she started. 

"Wait wait," he said quickly, turning back to his work bench. "I have one more thing."

"Tony, it's kind of important...what is that?" she asked, taking a step back. 

He was walking towards her with what looked like two electrode pads attached to wires. 

"Here, lift up your shirt," he said looking down at the objects. 

"Um...WHAT?" she exclaimed. 

"Oh uh...no I don't mean...not like THAT," he stammered, blushing slightly, which surprised her because Tony Stark was never so insecure that he blushed. "I mean I'm going to stick these on your stomach."

"No you're not," she said stepping back out of reach. 

"They're not electrodes," he said. "They're speakers." He stepped forward and grabbed the hem of her shirt, pulling it up slightly over her distending belly. Before she could complain, he had stuck the sticky side of the jelly pads to her abdomen, making her bite back a giggle at the sensation. Then he plugged the other ends of the wires into an iPod nano, and hit play. Faint streams of classical music could be heard as he pulled her shirt back down and tucked the nano into her front pocket. 

"What the hell?" she started, looking up at him. 

"I loaded the entire works of Mozart, Bach and Beethoven on that nano, along with several language tapes," he said. "Oh yeah, and some science lectures. And philosophy. Play those for the baby every day. Research says listening to classical music in utero ups the intelligence. And babies begin learning language in the womb. Better start now." 

She had pulled the nano back out and was thumbing through it. "Swahili??" she exclaimed. "Why does my baby need to learn Swahili? Planning to ship it off to Africa?"

"Oh no," he shrugged. "It's because the language is mathematical in structure. Learning it should help with math later on. That and I don't want to be the only person I know who knows Swahili. It can be our secret language so we can plot ice cream raids without you knowing." He grinned at her. 

Her heart both melted and ached. She tried to ignore it by saying, "And I'm supposed to just walk around with Mozart coming out of my shirt? Won't that make my staff meetings with department heads difficult?"

He shrugged and smiled, "You'll figure it out. You always do. Oh yeah, JARVIS came up with a healthy diet plan and uploaded it to your phone. Lots of folic acid for you. I hope you like arugula, you're going to be eating a lot of it. And no Ice cream or coffee. Don't bother looking for it upstairs, it's gone." 

"What? You tossed out perfectly good Ben and Jerry's with a pregnant woman around? Are you suicidal?" she stormed. "And I hate arugula." 

"I didn't throw it out, I ate it. That Late Night Snack ain't half bad. And arugula is an acquired taste," he said. 

Pepper just shook her head. 

"So, what did you want to tell me?" he asked. 

She gulped, all humor gone from her voice. She looked away. How was she going to tell him? Probably best to just spit it out. Taking a deep breath, she turned back to him and opened her mouth. 

But just then, JARVIS piped up, "Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt, but Director Fury is calling and he says it's a matter of life and death urgency." 

Pepper exhaled loudly. Tony looked up annoyed, then back at her and said, "You were saying?" 

She shook her head, her nerve gone. "Later. It can wait. Sounds like Iron Man is on duty. Try not to get jammed into the suit again, I dont think I'm in any condition to crowbar you out any more. And I'm supposed to be meeting Lauren and Charissa, we're getting fitted for our bridesmaids dresses for the wedding. Naturally I'll be the only heavily pregnant girl in the wedding party."

Tony smiled, and said "You'll be gorgeous," then turned to go get in the latest version of his Iron Man suit. Pepper watched him suit up, then fly out, hoping he didn't get hurt, trying to ignore the ache around her heart and the lump of guilt in her stomach. 

"Ms. Potts," said JARVIS, "Perhaps you should reconsider your decision to refrain from mentioning to Mr. Stark the nature of your pregnancy. It is becoming quite cumbersome to rectify my core programming and duty to my creator with your protocol order." 

"I'm going to JARVIS," she said. "I tried to. I can't just blurt it out. I need to think of the best way to tell him."

"I find English to be a suitable approach," the AI snarked.

"Funny," she quipped. "I promise, I'm working on it. I'm going to tell him." She turned and headed back upstairs, running into Happy on her way out, asking him to put ice cream on the shopping list. 

As she walked past him, he cocked his head towards her and said "Is that music coming from your shirt?"

"Oh shut up," she rolled her eyes. 

 

00000000000000

Lauren and Charissa sat in a booth at the Starbucks across the street from the dress shop waiting for Pepper and the other bridesmaids to arrive. They were nursing lattes and talking in hushed tones. 

"So do you think Tony knows it's his?" Charissa asked. 

"I really don't know," admitted Lauren. "Neither of them talk much about it around the office. But I can tell you, she needs to say something soon. I've had three people stop me in the halls and ask if she's pregnant. People are noticing and they're talking."

"What did you say to those three people?" asked Charissa.

"Only that Pepper doesn't tell me mountains of personal stuff, which is true, she doesn't always. I'm taking a cue from her evasion tactics and telling the truth in a way that misleads," said Lauren, sipping her latte. 

"Well I have all the PR statements ready to go. It's some of the best bullshit I've ever come up with. And it uses the 'truth told to mislead' tactic too. None of it includes mentioning who the father is at all," Charissa shrugged. 

"Maybe it's because he's Iron Man. I guess they're trying to avoid a media circus," Lauren said, frowning. 

Charissa shook her head, "Everyone will assume it's his anyway. Might as well say so if he isn't."

"I don't know," said Lauren with a sigh. "I can't figure either of them out. But she's starting to show, she better say something soon. Speak of the devil, there she is. That's her car pulling up. Let's get this show on the road." 

Both women got up, grabbed their drinks, and went to meet Pepper getting out of her car at the dress shop. They never saw the blonde woman with a knowing smirk sitting in the booth behind them. 

Christine Everheart didn't consider herself a mean spirited or vindictive person. Even if her investigative reporting tactics were more in your face than others, she considered herself a professional, bringing to light corporate atrocities worldwide and demanding accountability. She had gone after Tony Stark with vigor, and she never believed he was flying around being Iron Man for any reason other than stroking his enormous ego. 

He was a charmer, and she didn't appreciate his he had gotten her in his bed to derail her. It hadn't worked of course, she had written a scathing account of his company's wrongdoings, which he immediately rendered moot by going out and righting them himself. While she was glad the atrocities were being dealt with, she never appreciated being treated as a common bimbo, or that Stark had never seen a day in court for all the highly illegal stuff his company had done, or the illegal stuff he had done on defense department contracts and taxpayer money to develop his Iron Man suit. As far as she was concerned, his rich arrogant ass should be serving life in prison, not being allowed to fly around in a super weapon blasting anything he felt like. 

As for Pepper Potts, Christine had mixed feelings about her. On the one hand, Christine admired the red haired woman's stamina and strength, her intellect and obvious skilled handling of Tony. No doubt he'd have caused a lot more trouble without Pepper babysitting him, and her historic rise through a major corporation and obvious business skill gave many young girls an admirable role model. On the other hand, Christine remembered Pepper's overtly sweet, yet snotty jibe at her the morning after Tony had laid her and left her alone to wander his house naked in his shirt. Pepper had found her and handled her in a hospitable way, but leaving no doubt that she was no servant and that Christine was just entertainment, no different than some slutty airhead Tony might have picked up instead. 

"I handle anything Mr. Stark requires, including, occasionally, taking out the trash. Will that be all?" she had said with a sweet smile.

"Better pull that shirt down a bit in the back, dear," she had said as Christine had walked off to get dressed.

It had been humiliating to be exposed as so unprofessional. Christine had harbored a grudge against both of them since then. She didn't have feelings for Tony, it was a meaningless roll in the hay for both of them, so she wasn't jealous of Pepper's obvious position as Tony's main interest. No, she was still pissed about the morning after, and how, ever since then, Pepper had always looked at her with bemusement that could pass for superiority. 

'So, who's the 'trash' now, Pepper?' Christine thought with a smirk. 'Looks like the infamous Pepper Potts finally sold out. And got knocked up for it. Fitting.'

Christine pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. "Johnny, hey is that you? Yeah it's Christine. I'm fine thanks. Yeah still working for Vanity Fair. Hey look, are you still with US Weekly? Well, have I got a scoop for you! But you didn't hear it from me, OK?"


	6. Chapter 6

*** "A spokesperson for Roxon indicated that the company would release a statement by the end of the week concerning the catastrophic oil spill. In other news, yesterday the popular celebrity magazine US Weekly ran an interesting article concerning the now familiar rumor that Pepper Potts, personal assistant to Iron Man Tony Stark, could in fact be pregnant with his child. For years, the two have fought rumors that they are involved, especially considering Stark's well-known reputation with the ladies over the years. Over the last decade, the rumor mill has swirled with stories concerning the two and their apparent closeness as friends and colleagues. Before, those rumors were resoundingly debunked. However, US Weekly reporter Johnny Milton claims he received inside information from Stark Industries employees, who were overheard to be talking about Potts' pregnancy as if it were a sure thing. They were also heard to be discussing that it was in fact Tony's child. Photographs included with the report showed a noticeably thicker Pepper Potts displaying what can only be called a baby bump while shopping with friends at a bridal boutique. Could there be an Iron Man wedding in the future? Possibly even a shotgun wedding? Representatives to Stark Industries refused to comment on the matter."*** 

"Mute," said Tony as he stormed into the administrative offices. The video screens were swirling with reports about Pepper. JARVIS had informed him yesterday about the US Weekly article, though normally such things coming from what amounted to tabloid headlines weren't worth consideration. The problem was the pictures showing Pepper, Lauren and Charissa at the bridal boutique shopping for Lauren's wedding. Whoever had taken the pictures had obviously done so with a cellular phone, however they had caught Pepper at the perfect angle showing her bulging belly, which had not been very well hidden at the time. For being a cellular phone photo, it was pretty good at showing that she was indeed pregnant. This had caused more mainstream news media to pick up on the story and began speculating. 

'Well that certainly didn't take them long to connect me to this whole thing,' thought Tony. 

"How can they say we refused to comment?" he heard Lauren saying angrily. "We never got a call from the E! network. How can we refuse to respond if they didn't call in the first place?"

He surveyed the chaos going on in the administrative offices. Lauren was fielding phone calls nearly as quickly as the phone rang when she hung it up. She had pulled Tony's secretary to help her and at the moment was chewing out the receptionist down on the first floor. 

"You're supposed to be screening these calls, Jenna," said Lauren. "You're acting as a filtering system here. Screen out the loonies and send me only the legitimate calls. I've had three guys call claiming they are the father of Pepper's baby, five women calling to claim that Tony is the father of their babies, and one woman claiming she is an egg donor for Pepper's. I've got the Inquirer calling and Ricki Lake. Stop sending these nut jobs up to me. No, Ricki Lake is not a legitimate source. There has to be better screening of these calls."

As soon as Lauren slammed the phone back down, it rang again. With a weary sigh, she answered it, "Stark Industries administrative service, Lauren speaking. No, Miss Potts is not giving any statements or interviews today. Or tomorrow. No, she has not indicated that she will be giving any in the future. I'm sorry, I don't have that information just yet. Well, please tell Mrs. Winfrey to consider calling back sometime next week. Thank you." 

Lauren slammed the phone back down again and of course it rang immediately. She grabbed the clunky headset with microphone and plugged it in to avoid cranking her neck holding the receiver. Tony made a mental note to include a raise for her in the budget for next year, and Charissa too. He also made a mental note to get the contact info of the men calling claiming paternity and have JARVIS check to see if any of them might be possible. And Oprah was calling? Wow.

He looked over to Charissa's desk. She, too, was in a mad flurry of action going through various printouts. 

"Pepper needs to release some kind of official statement," she said. "This one isn't going to go away, not with photographs, and this is about the time she needed to make a statement anyway. Lauren doesn't have any official orders on what to tell these people. We've been kind of deflecting, but we can't keep this up all day."

Charissa look imploringly at Tony. "Where is she?" he asked. 

"She's in her office," said Lauren. "She's been basically hiding all morning, which worries me. Pepper doesn't hide. It's coffee morning and she didn't want to go with our group like normal to Starbucks. Not with all the reporters camped on outside."

"I'll go talk to her," said Tony at he breezed past the two overworked women and waved to his own secretary, who was also fielding calls for Tony about the situation. 

"No, Mr. Stark has no official statement at this time," she was saying. 

Tony went past the harried women and carefully opened the door to Pepper's office. She was lying on the couch in her office with a washcloth over her eyes. 

 

"Well, we knew this was going to happen," he said. "All things considered, it could really be worse."

"Maybe," she said, "but that doesn't make it any better now. I just want to know how they found out and who did this, the pictures and all." 

"Well, we may never know. No point in worrying about it now. And Charissa needs some kind of official answer as to what you want to do now," he said. "I mean, we could try to put this off, but it would only be a week or two at most. It's probably best to come clean now and just get it over with."

She slowly sat up and looked as if she were being led to her execution. "Okay," she said, somewhat despondently. "I guess so. I mean really, what's the point in hiding now?"

She stood up slowly, as if she was very tired, and Tony noticed how tired she really looked. She even had circles under her eyes. If it was possible, it seemed that her stomach had grown twice its size in only a week. How could he not have noticed? How could anyone not have noticed? 

She started to slowly walk past him, but he caught her up in an impromptu hug. She relaxed against him for a few seconds before gently pushing him away to go out to tell Charissa to release the first official statement. Tony wished he could spare her the media circus. 

As Pepper walked into the secretary area, all activity ceased. The three administrative assistants looked at her. 

“Charissa,” she said with resignation, “go ahead and released the first report. We'll move forward. It's time to tell anyway.” 

Charissa nodded.

00000000

*** "Breaking news this morning! Pepper Potts released a statement yesterday through Stark Industries PR department confirming her pregnancy. Looks like this time rumor might actually be true. The statement says:

“Pepper Potts, administrative assistant to Stark Industries CEO Tony Stark, is pleased to announce the upcoming arrival of her first child. It is regrettable that the news should come about by tabloid article first; However miss Potts fully intended to make an announcement within the next two weeks herself regardless. We at Stark Industries hope that you will join us in congratulating Pepper and wish her all the best luck with her new family. She is excited about the prospects of becoming a mother as well as continuing her career here at Stark Industries. She has the full support of her supervisor Tony Stark, as well as her professional colleagues. As to the nature of the speculation currently in the media about who is the father of her child, Ms. Potts' position is that it is a matter of privacy and not up for discussion, but that she plans to embark on parenthood as a single parent. If any further information is needed, it will be forthcoming. Thank you for your consideration and we ask that you respect Pepper's privacy and personal space during this transitional time.” 

Well, that certainly doesn't give us the answer we hoped for as to whether or not the baby is Iron Man's. But it seems if it was, they would say so. " ***

“Mute,” said Tony irritably, waking up stiff and a little cold on the sofa of his workshop. He had instructed JARVIS to keep an eye on the newsfeeds for any pertinent information about Pepper or himself, and while it wasn't irritating yet, he knew it soon would be. Naturally everyone assumed the baby was his, they knew this would be the reaction, but it irritated him a little that no one was asking who the father really was. Was he going to show up now that Pepper had been outed and was getting attention for it? He certainly hoped not, but part of him wished the man would reveal himself just so Tony would know who it was. 

He pushed himself to a sitting position, rubbing his eyes and mussed up hair, feeling stuff and a little cold. It was then that he noticed he had a raging hard on. Suddenly he remembered the dream he had been having. It had been that image of Pepper again, sitting on the coffee table across from him, leaning in, only this time he remembered the kiss, soft at first, then deep. He had pulled her under him, pulling her leg up around his hip. The next thing that came to mind was her under him in his bed, naked and writhing in ecstasy, kissing him soundly. Tony had woken up right at a point where he would have hit his climax. As it was, he was feeling a terrible letdown at waking up to find his odd dream had gone further but still hadn't crossed the finish line.

He staggered to his feet and stumbled to the bathroom, making it just in time to unzip. It only took a few strokes of his hand and he went over the edge, shaking in release, but feeling terrible disappointment. If only that dream were real. But it wasn't. Pepper wasn't his, she wasn't interested in him. She thought of him as a friend, but one who would probably hurt her if they became more than friends. But god he loved her. Even though she had chosen someone else and was having that man’s baby. 

(but she didn’t choose him, he’s not around. You are.)

Any time he wasn't around her, he missed her terribly. He had invited her to stay over at his house since the press was swarming around her apartment, but she had declined. He wished more than ever that she had accepted, even if it meant she was sleeping on the other side of the house. He didn’t like the thought of not being near to help if she needed him. He had JARVIS monitor her bracelet constantly for signs of trauma, or elevating heart rate indicating stress, but JARVIS had finally told him it appeared, from her vitals, that she was asleep or lying in bed. He was relieved, but still longing for her. What would it take for her to consider him? 

He wasn't sure what to think or feel about the baby, but working on his projects for it had given him a sense of purpose. It had made him take a vested interest in the little person growing inside his friend, even if all he would ever be was the eccentric uncle-like godfather. He thought it might be fun to be a part of a kid’s life, watching it explore and learn, showing it things, playing games, taking it places, things like that, if Pepper would let him. While he still felt a decent amount of resentment, given what the baby represented to him, given all the work he had put into designing things to keep it safe, plus it was Pepper's too, he couldn't help but begin to feel a slight amount of affection for the baby. After all, it was part of Pepper, and she was part of him. 

00000000000

Pepper herself wasn't doing much better back at her apartment. Like Tony, she had been watching the news shows until they got repetitive. She had to admit that Charissa's press releases and official statements were quite good. While she had however expected quite the uproar in the media, she had no idea that Oprah Winfrey and other talk shows would be calling. Was her pregnancy really that interesting compared to others? Still, she could handle being talked about. After all, it was still going on around the office, even though it had died down quite a bit in recent years. As Pepper had proven herself more competent in the business realm, there was not much criticism and insinuation of her sleeping with the boss as time went on. Besides, most people liked her and didn't talk about her in a derogatory way, at least that she was aware of. Most of the employees at the office rather appreciated the way she handled Tony, and made him as productive as possible. It made everyone else's job easier, and she was known to be fair and compassionate when sorting out trouble in Tony's stead. 

In fact, quite a few employees at Stark Industries had come to her defense, including some of the ones she knew still talked about her. It seemed acceptable for Stark employees to gossip about their bosses obviously having the hots for each other, but it was not acceptable outside the walls of the office building, it appeared. Reporters were camped out repeatedly in front of the office and in front of her apartment, as well as Tony's mansion. Many employees had been ambushed on the way to their vehicles with questions about what they might know about her. 

There was one older woman in janitorial who Pepper had helped several years before. When her husband was diagnosed with leukemia, and she was forced to take beyond her allotted sick days to care for him, her department head had issued her termination notice. In much the same way Pepper had met Tony by discovering a mistake he had made, that the head of accounting had written off, causing her to go straight to him which landed her the PA job, this woman had gone over her supervisor’s head straight to the administrative offices. Her husband was on her insurance and to lose her job would be to lose the ability to pay for her husband's treatments. Pepper had stopped what she was doing and went straight to Tony with the woman in tow. Tony had immediately overridden the termination notice, and had arranged for the woman to be trained in simple database cleanup, deleting old order records. Honestly, it was the kind of repetitive boring grunt work that was given to college interns so that they could have something cool on the resume to indicate they had interned at Stark Industries but without giving them security clearance. It was very low security and rather boring work. However, to put this woman on full-time working from a laptop from home cost nothing in the long run, and allowed her to remain on the payroll while caring for her husband and keeping her insurance. Thankfully, her husband had recovered, and she had been able to come back to work in janitorial. Some poor reporter from Fox News had made the mistake of stopping her on the way to her car to ask about Tony and Pepper, and the pregnancy. 

The only way Pepper heard about it was that security had sent her a copy of the surveillance video and audio, for the woman's response was never going to be aired on primetime television, not with that many “F” words. Pepper couldn't help herself, she had laughed hysterically. Even the employees who had not known her or Tony very well independently had defended them and guarded their privacy. There were occasionally a handful of employees who, for a certain amount of money, were willing to talk, but really didn't have much to say. Tony had let it be known that any employee talking to reporters about personal matters of anyone in the company, much less Pepper, would be subject to disciplinary action, and probably even termination. Because of this, most Stark employees told reporters to shove it when they walked by. 

Pepper lay in bed looking at the ceiling. In the last three days since the story had broken, she had not been sleeping very well. On top of all that, she was physically uncomfortable and couldn't get in a good position. She was starting to tire more easily, and things that were physically easy for her before suddenly became demanding. It always seemed to her that hallways were longer than before, and the bathroom further away. It was emotionally draining, not to mention physically exhausting, to be dealing with all of this at this point. But the physical problems and the emotional fatigue of being in the media spotlight were nothing compared to the conflict she felt over telling Tony. She had intended to tell him he was the father as soon as he got back from his last mission. However, he had been gone for three days, and by the time he got back she had lost her nerve. She knew he deserved to know, but every time she tried to tell him, fear overtook her. She had no idea how he would react. 

The biggest problem with Tony, indeed what had caused this situation in the first place, was that he never reacted to nearly identical situations the same way. She never knew what to expect from him. When interacting with normal people, the most common method of predicting how a person would react to something was by remembering how they reacted to past situations. It was actually an intellectual leap in the human conscience that made us able to do this, and it helped us define our places within our tribes. But Tony didn't operate that way. This was especially true ever since he got back from Afghanistan. His experiences as a hostage had made him totally reorganize the way he processed information mentally, and how he reacted to situations. He was still impulsive and didn't always think things through, but he was less reactive. He handled situations, now, that he otherwise might have handled badly in his past. The problem was Pepper never knew which one of those situations it would be. She operated the way in normal human would. 

And a normal human would tell herself that if she were pregnant by a man who had previously started other pregnancies, and have been adamant that they were ended, that she could expect the same behavior towards her. Previous experience told her that Tony did not like being lied to, and didn't handle betrayal, especially the kind that Obadiah had inflicted, with any notion of forgiveness or understanding. She told herself that she did not create the situation to destroy Tony the way Obadiah had with his scheming. But she knew if she were honest with herself, that part of the reason she hadn't said anything yet was because, on a certain level, she wanted to hurt him the way he had hurt her that morning. Logically, she knew that he was drunk and couldn't remember. He hadn't done it on purpose. But that didn't really make the hurt any less. Now that the desire to retaliate on a certain level had passed in her, she did want to tell him. But here she was six months along, and without a really good excuse as to why she would have waited so long to tell. She was racked with fear and guilt and shame at the situation she had caused, but still feeling quite torn about her own hurt. It created a tumble of emotions that she couldn't sort out. 

Pepper had always been the pragmatic one who operated by discipline and planning though. She was going to have to be as disciplined with herself as she regularly had to be with Tony. Her own feelings were no longer a good enough reason to keep silent. She told herself that she was going to tell him before she hit the seventh month. She didn't want to just blurt it out as she had thought previously, however. At this point, her excuse for not saying anything usually involved telling herself that she had to wait to the right moment and say the right pre-prepared words. She had run through many scenarios and planned speeches in her head, and none of them seemed quite right. Then she told herself that there was always some sort of thing that needed to be handled first before she could lay such a burden on him. 

There was always some meeting at work, or some project of his, or some business related thing that she told herself he had to be focused on entirely before he could be distracted by her pregnancy. For example, in the morning, they were leaving for New York for a board members meeting. Tony wasn't fond of these kinds of meetings because he always felt the board was out to get him. He had not forgotten how so many of them had voted along with Obadiah to file an injunction against him as CEO, claiming he was unstable. Because of this, he was occasionally distrustful and sometimes hostile towards the board. This is why he always insisted the Pepper come with him to smooth things over. She was not above occasionally flashing her charms at these older men to get them to go along with what they wanted. For the most part, most of them were truly nice to her. They had been invited to a gathering at Frank Hendrickson's house the night before the board meeting, though she suspected the board wanted some answers on the pregnancy and whether or not Tony was involved. It could create administrative problems the board would rather avoid if things went south for her and Tony, she knew.

Pepper had not really wanted to go to this meeting. She was in the uncomfortable state of her pregnancy, and would only get more uncomfortable. People were openly staring at her now as she walked in the hallways, and on the street, and she didn't expect any better from the board or people in New York. She knew there would be talk of unprofessional behavior between her and Tony, and she would have to outright lie and say it wasn't his unless she told him the truth on the plane over there, which she didn’t think she’d have the nerve to do. For his part, Tony has been pretty good about not requiring her to come on business trips with him. However, this time he really couldn't let her wiggle out of it. He really needed her assistance facing down the board. Because he had already done so much for her, and because she feel guilty for lying to him, and because she knew he was right, that he did need her help, she had reluctantly agreed. 

She told herself that she would tell him when they got back, that he needed to concentrate on the board meeting first. She knew she was stalling, and she told herself this would be the last excuse she gave. When they got back from the trip to New York, she was going to tell him.


	7. Chapter 7

Pepper finished putting in her diamond earrings and took a step back to look at herself in the full Length mirror. For a woman who was six months pregnant, and getting very little sleep over her physical discomfort, and emotional upheaval, she had to admit she didn't look half bad. She was wearing a maternity dress Charissa had loaned her, a black, willowy number that flattered in the right places and muted the effect of her rounding stomach without denying it entirely. Concealing makeup evened her skin tone, and hid the circles under her eyes, and her red hair was piled into a complicated twist that allowed a few strands to fall around her face and ears. Tony had "given" her the earrings and matching necklace for her birthday once, the memory of it making her smile sadly at how he had always just given her free reign of his credit card on her birthday for a gift, having no idea what to get her himself. Left to his own devices, he'd probably have gotten her a pet monkey or something. 

She knew she looked pretty good, but she was still not looking forward to the evening. Truth be told, if given her own choice, she would rather just stay in the hotel. She knew she would have had no problem convincing Tony to stay in for a movie night. In the last several months, he had become a homebody himself, practically a hermit. He hadn't shown much interest in this party either on the flight out. Normally this was the kind of thing he couldn't wait to attend. There was sure to be a great deal of expensive food and high-class people, to say nothing of the abundance of women. But he had skipped out on the last party like this back in California a few months ago. He had said he was not feeling too well, but she knew he just not wanted to go, so she had made his apologies. Secretly though, she had been pleased. It meant that she wouldn't have to deal with any women he might pick up. But she had to admit, it had been over a year since he had done anything like that, the womanizing and binge parties. She wondered if it was fair to keep judging him by his past when he had not behaved like the irresponsible playboy in well over a year, not since he got back from Afghanistan. 

There was a knock at the door and she turned to answer. Tony, Happy and one of Happy's security men stood on the other side, all dressed in tuxes. 

"Are you ready to go, ah.....uh....wow," Tony trailed off with his mouth visibly hanging open. Happy and the guard also looked a little dazed, staring at her. 

Tony was thunderstruck. He had always thought that Pepper was beautiful, but he really didn't think he had a word for what was standing in front of him. She was beyond gorgeous, and he felt his heart melt at the sight of her. If this event had been anything other than a board member's social gathering, he would have decided right then and there not to go, told Happy and the guard to have the night off and go have fun, then take Pepper into his arms, swing them both back into her room, kiss her senseless, and beg her to be his, baby and all. 

'What the hell am I thinking?' wondered Tony. 'Am I seriously considering something long-term with Pepper and her baby?'

(yes)

Pepper also had to stop herself from gaping at Tony. God, he looked handsome. It certainly helped that he was blessed with natural good looks, but he knew how to flaunt it. She knew behind his looks, though, was a good soul and great personality to compliment his physical gifts. Plus, the way he was looking at her was making her body temperature rise slightly. With a little bit of pride in herself, she recovered quickly. 

"Are you guys ready to go? You all look nice," she said with a nod to Happy. He smiled back at her, then looked at the security guard next to him and winked at the sight of Tony and Pepper gazing into each other's eyes. He knew how his two friends felt about each other, and he wished they would just work it out already. 

"Huh?" Tony said, snapping out of a daze. Pepper just smiled and stepped out into the hallway with the men following her. The sooner they left, the sooner they could get this whole thing over with. As Happy drove them to the Hendrickson's house, Tony felt a minor sense of dread coming over him. 

Nobody, not even Pepper, knew that Elaine Hendrickson was one of Tony's many conquests. She was actually an odd case, being 10 years older than him, and married. For seven years, anytime Tony visited New York, they usually found a way to hook up. She had been the one to come on to him, and he had been surprised at first. But it seemed that the Hendricksons had had marital problems for years, and Frank was not even trying to hide his own extramarital affairs. He stopped flaunting his infidelity at social gatherings after his wife Elaine had thrown a public fit a few years ago. But everyone knew he was still wandering. Elaine was much more subtle in her affairs. Most people assumed that she was faithful to her husband, despite their problems. But Elaine was much more prone to secretly having affairs with people important to Frank, like business associates and his boss. In the past, Tony had not been all that concerned about why she was doing it. He only knew that she was very skilled, and certainly one of his better times. But not even Pepper knew about this one. Tony had already made up his mind to give up his philandering ways, and so he was not looking forward to seeing Elaine, nor could he say why to Pepper, who asked him twice on the plane and once in the car why he was so glum. He knew why she looked so down of course. Everyone there was sure to be whispering about her behind her back, even if they smile to her face. 

“How soon can we leave this fiesta without being rude?” he asked. 

“Not feeling well?” she asked, looking at him questioningly. 

“I just.....I'd rather not spend all night at the Hendricksons,” he said. “I just want to get this trip over with and head back home. And I know you don't really want to be here either.” 

“No I don't,” she agreed. “But we kind of owe it to Frank to show up. He was one of the three who voted against Obi's injunction against you.” 

That news didn't do much for Tonys discomfort about having slept with Frank’s wife. He figured they would stay an hour then leave. 

The mansion that Frank Hendrickson lived in was set on the Hudson River overlooking the waterway. There were several high profile people, both politicians and celebrities, as well as businessmen, all milling about when they arrived. Normally Tony enjoyed these sorts of things. He was an extrovert by nature and drew people of all kinds to him, but they were good opportunities for both he and Pepper to make business connections and deals. This time, though, people wouldn't be looking at Pepper with respect, and he was in no mood for schmoozing. Sure enough, when they walked in, conversation audibly lowered. Most people had enough class to not stare, but they didn't do well hiding their sideways looks. He felt Pepper stiffen beside him, and he resisted the urge to put an arm around her waist. A move like that would leave no doubt in people’s minds that they were an item, and it could cause all sorts of gossip that could prove troublesome later on in business. 

To Pepper’s credit, she handled the entire situation with the quorum. She lifted her chin and pretended not to see the glances, or hear the whispers, and walked straight up to Frank and Elaine and greeted them warmly. Tony could tell their smiles were forced, and half genuine, but they greeted her back with equal manner. With a quick word to Happy to keep an eye on Pepper and not worry about him, Tony made swift work of the room, going to shake the hands of each board member, making sure everyone knew he was there. Pepper also was working the room, walking around to the wives and girlfriends, and occasionally mistresses, of fairly powerful people, shaking hands and making conversation in spite of her discomfort. 

Tony frequently caught himself watching her, both with a little concern and a great deal of admiration. He was about to go up and stand by her side when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Elaine Hendrickson standing there with a smile on her face. He tried to ignore the familiar jolt in his groin that was a normal reaction to her. He was certainly not in love with her by any stretch of the imagination, and never had been, but it was hard to ignore his dreaded physical memory of her. 

“Well well, Tony Stark,” she said with a seductive smile. “I was beginning to wonder if I see you.” 

He forced a smile and said, “Hello Elaine, you look lovely.” If she noticed his smile didn't quite reach his eyes, or if his body language was turned slightly away from her, she didn't give any indication. 

“So,” she said with a knowing smile, “there's something upstairs I have to show you that I know you will be interested in.” 

“Um, not this time, Elaine,” said Tony softly. “I don't really plan on staying long.” 

“So what am I missing over here?” came Frank’s jovial voice. Tony flinched as Frank laid a hand on his shoulder. 

“Oh dear,” she said, “I was just telling Tony about the painting upstairs I would like him to see. It's a great find, we found at an auction house in Europe. But I’ve seen your art collection. Really, Pepper has done a great job with it. It seems like the sort of thing that would fit right in with your collection, if you want to buy it.” 

Tony actually felt himself relax a bit. “Well, Pepper is the expert,” he said, “so let me go get her and you could show it to her.” 

“Oh it looks like Pepper is rather busy right now,” said Elaine, pointing across the room to Pepper talking with two wives of board members. “I'll show you and you can decide later,” she said. 

“Yes, go on, Tony,” said Frank, “and have a look. If you get that garbage out of my house, you’d be doing me a favor.” 

Frank turned and wandered off to follow two scantily clad women. Tony caught the fleeting look of anger on Elaine’s face before she masked it. She turned to him, gave him her best smile, and grabbed his arm, steering him towards the stairs. Tony looked over his shoulder for Pepper, but lost her in the crowd. 

“Elaine, I really think that Pepper should be the one to look at any artwork,” he said. 

“Oh Tony,” she laughed “if I didn't know any better, I'd swear you were afraid to be alone with me.” 

Tony reluctantly followed her up the stairs. He would look at the stupid painting, and then beat a hasty retreat. They had been there the hour, and he said he would stay and hour. He had, and now he was ready to go. He would find Pepper, and they would leave. He didn't like the way his body was reacting to Elaine. He had learned in rehab that the best way to control an addiction of any kind was to not put yourself in the situation where he might be tempted to relapse. In the case of his propensity to random sex, he knew he was entering a dangerous situation where he would be terribly tempted. He wanted out now. On the other hand, she might really have a piece of artwork for him to see. If it was good, then Pepper would really want to see it at some point, and it would be rude to refuse. If it is a scam to get him alone, he would just turn around and leave. 

Elaine took Tony to the top of the stairs, and into a room halfway down the hall. He didn't recall ever having been in this particular room before. It appeared to be a sitting room of some kind. She pointed to a painting on the far wall, and he walked over to look. There didn't seem to be anything spectacular about it other than the fact that it looked sort of like a cheap reproduction him, but Pepper was a real expert, she would know. It appeared to be a picture of several scantily clad girls dancing in a circle in the woods. 

“So, what do you think?” asked Elaine. 

“It's okay, I guess,” said Tony. “If Pepper thinks it's worth adding, then I guess maybe we'll take it.” 

“Ah yes, Pepper,” said Elaine. “And how is she doing these days?”

Elaine’s tones made Tony turn and face her, and for some reason his spine clenched a bit. It sounded half snarky, and half disappointed. Her look was enigmatic, and he couldn't quite decipher it. 

“She's, uh, she's fine I guess,” he said. “No complications or anything.” 

“Is it yours?” Elaine asked bluntly. 

“No,” said Tony, “it isn't.” 

Elaine look surprised. “It isn't? That's weird I thought for sure it was. Whose is this it then? Hogan’s?”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “I don't know, she won't tell me. And if you thought it was mine, then you can join the club. That's what the whole world thinks, but nobody even bothers to ask.” 

“Well, if she won't tell you,” said Elaine, “what makes you think she'll tell anybody?” 

Tony just shrugged his shoulders. 

“So you two aren't...?” asked Elaine. 

“No,” said Tony. “We never have been.” 

“Also a surprise,” she said. “But I'm glad to hear that.” 

Then, before Tony could react, she closed the distance between them and threw her arms around him, and pulled him in for a kiss. She molded her body against his, and he immediately responded. But it took his mind a full five seconds to register what was happening. Elaine was the kind of woman who it was nearly physically impossible not to react to. Logically, he knew he should step away right away, but the rest of him had other ideas. As he had always done before, he kissed her back. There was no warmth behind it, only a physical need that was not being fulfilled. Just because he had curbed his partying ways didn't mean that he no longer had physical needs. His vivid dreams about Pepper, and frustration at not being able to express it to the person he really did love, were starting to wear on him. 

It also didn't help that he had always found Elaine exciting. Although she was older, she still had the kind of body that Jane Fonda or Tina Turner might be proud of, and she worked out every day. There was also the added thrill of the fact that it was forbidden. She wasn't just married, she was married to a man who could seriously ruin Tony. While he had never been too concerned before about his image, or what people thought of his sexual escapades, nor was he above sleeping with married women, it just wasn't his normal routine. Married women and women with boyfriends usually brought complications, and he didn't like those. Plus, this particular married woman could cause severe trouble for him through her husband. Knowing that had been part of what made having an affair with her so exciting. The risk factor had always added heights to his experience of pleasure. 

She was getting more aggressive now, pulling his jacket open and pushing him towards a sofa. Somewhere in his foggy and lust driven mind, Tony knew he should put a stop to this now. The very last thing he needed was for Frank to walk in. But he supposed the risk factor and the taboo factor was what drove her as well. Elaine pushed him down on the couch and climbed on top of him. She kissed him harder, fumbling with the buttons on his shirt. She had not actually seen his arc reactors yet, and had probably even forgotten he had it. While not breaking the kiss, she reached behind herself and unzipped her dress. She grabbed Tony's hand and put it on her thigh, trying to urge him to move higher. Both his head and his groin were pounding. 

But then, suddenly, his mind flashed to another image. It was on a vision of Pepper under him in his bed, wrapping herself around him as he entered her. Her breath exploding in his ear as she arched her back. His heart swelling with love for her…

Pepper 

Suddenly, just like that, he went completely cold, and his lust faded. Gone was the excited, more experienced woman he had always anticipated in Elaine, and instead, on top of him was a sweaty and aggressive married woman that he really no longer wanted whom he never should have been with in the first place. It even shocked him a little bit to find that he suddenly did not find her even that attractive anymore. He didn't want her, he wanted Pepper. He had to stop this now. 

'This was exactly why Pepper doesn’t consider you,' he thought. 'You go without sex since before Afghanistan, and now you're jumping a married woman you should never have touched before in the first place, just because you're riled up and frustrated over Pepper. You try to show her that you want her and care about her, but you haven't changed a bit'

(she jumped me, not the other way around)

'Well you're certainly not fighting her off. She's grabbing your crotch at the moment and you're not stopping her. If you're caught with her, her husband will ruin you, Pepper will know you're not serious about her if you're still throwing down with other women, and you really don't need the press to get wind of this. You don't even think Elaine's hot anymore. (not like Pepper) Meanwhile Pepper's downstairs pregnant, and alone, facing a crowd of critical snobs, while you're upstairs about to fuck the host's wife. You don't deserve her. What kind of role model behavior is this for her kid? Get your ass out of here now if you want any kind of shot with her.'

Tony steeled himself and broke the kiss, gently pushing Elaine away from him. She kept trying to lean back down to kiss him, but he held her off. 

"Elaine, wait. Stop. Seriously, stop!" he panted. 

"What?" she asked, confused. 

"I'm not doing this. Not anymore. I can't. Things are different now," he said, trying harder to push her off him, but not wanting to hurt her. 

Elaine laughed a not-so-kind laugh. "Not that different. Tony Stark saying ‘no’ to some seriously hot sex? Has hell frozen over? You're a riot. I think that Iron Man nonsense is going to your head." She bent back down and captured his mouth again. 

"Elaine.." he protested, shoving her backwards harder. "I'm serious. I'm not doing this. Get off!"

At that moment, Tony heard voices out in the hallway. 

He froze. 

“Are you sure he came up here? He was by the buffet the last time I saw him,” came a male voice that Tony instantly recognized as belonging to Happy. 

Then Pepper’s voice followed, “I asked Frank and he said that Tony came up here with Elaine. Something about looking at a painting for the collection. We've been here for an hour and a half already, and I'm really not feeling good. He didn't want to stay long either, so I just want to check with him and see if he's ready to go.” 

Pepper and Happy both walked into the room and froze. Both of their mouths dropped open at the sight of Tony entangled with their host's wife on the sofa, in the process of removing clothes. 

Tony's heart sank as he realized what Pepper must be thinking. Sure enough, before she schooled her features, the look on her face and in her eyes was one of absolute pain and hurt. It actually took a second or two for her window shades to come back down, the way they always did, and her face went impassive. 

“Pepper,” started Tony, “this isn’t what it looks like.” 

Without a word, Pepper turned and walked out of the room. Happy waited a moment, and then followed her. 

Frantic now, Tony didn't even pretend to try to be gentle with Elaine. With a quick twist, he tossed her off of him and she tumbled to the floor. He jumped up and pulled himself together as best as he could, and started quickly towards the door. 

"Pepper, wait," he called, but when he looked into the hallway, she and Happy were already gone. 

He turned back to Elaine, still kneeling on the floor. “Nice,” he spat. “Now I'm really in for it. Didn't you hear me telling you to get off?”

“What’s your problem? They won't tell,” shrugged Elaine. “They work for you.” 

“No,” said Tony desperately, “you don't understand...Pepper...”

He trailed off and looked down both ways of the hallway again to make sure Pepper and Happy were really gone. He also remembered Pepper saying she didn't feel well. She seemed a little off on the plane too, and he was worried. 

“I thought you said you two weren't together?” said Elaine. “You said the baby wasn't yours....”

“It isn't. We're not...” stammered Tony, “but it could have been, it should have been. We...we're...there was potential. We could have...but not now. Not after this.”

He looked at Elaine, picking herself up off the floor, and he faced her angrily. "Look Elaine, we had fun before, but that's over now. Just because your relationship is in a shambles doesn't mean you have to do the same to other people's. I was an idiot for coming up here. Now Pepper will never believe....I had a real chance. Damn you. Damn you to hell."

He turned and stormed out, passing a mirror in the hallway, and checking to make sure nothing looked amiss, flew down the stairs to the party, desperately looking for Pepper or Happy. He didn't see either of them. He rushed for the door, wondering if they were going to wait by the car. But the car was gone. Did they leave him?

Tony turned and headed back inside, running into Frank in the hallway. 

"Frank, have you seen Pepper?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Frank, "She and your guy Hogan went tearing out of here. She looked upset, like she was trying not to cry. Hey, are they am item? They make a cute couple, but I guess they were having a spat..."

"They're not together, they're just friends," Tony cut him off, trying to shake his fear that Happy might be the father of the baby, which was why Pepper didn't want to tell him. But no, Happy would have told him himself by now. "No, she hasn't been feeling well. I told her to leave if it gets bad. I guess it did. Hap must have taken her home. I'll just get a cab, I'm jet lagged myself, and I should go check on her."

"Well thanks for stopping by. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then," said Frank. "Hey you going to buy that painting?"

Tony looked up and saw Elaine on the stairs, watching and listening. "No," he said firmly, "It's not my style. Thanks though."

Tony grabbed his coat and beat a hasty retreat out the door. He used his phone to call for a cab. As he was waiting, a text came in from Happy.

Happy: I took her back to the hotel. She was feeling dizzy and she was really weak and upset. Sorry for leaving you there.

Tony: is she ok? I need to talk to her. 

Happy: seriously boss, I wouldn't do that. She really upset. I don't think this one is fixable. Sorry man 

Tony: I was trying to stop Elaine. I was trying to get out of there. 

Happy: If you say so, but that rely isn't what it looked like from where we were standing. But I don't judge. 

Tony: It’s the truth Hap. 

Happy: that may be, but even so, I'd leave her be until tomorrow. She's really upset. I offered to stay a while with her, but she told me thanks, but to go. 

Tony: OK if you think so. :(

Tony was devastated. He had no idea what he was going to say to her, but he knew he had to say something. He had to make her understand that what she saw was not what she thought she saw. If he couldn't, any chance he might have with her was gone. And frankly, his soul hurt just considering it. After everything he had done to convince her to stay, now surely she’d leave. After all of his attempts to prove that he was better than Mr. Anonymous Sperm Donor, who had gotten her pregnant and then run off on her, now she truly believed that he was nothing more than the playboy he had always been, someone who would always drop the ball and hurt her. And hurt her child in the process too. Catching him with the wife of a board member who supported him was the ultimate act of betrayal and disregard for anyone but himself. He couldn't let it end this way and let this sit as it currently was. He had to fix things and make it right. 

************************

Pepper laid her hotel room, still wearing the dress, and her hair in a messy knot. She still couldn't believe what she had seen, and was berating herself for thinking anything more or expecting better of Tony. Of course he would do something like this, he had in the past. Many times. She had not known he had been involved with Elaine, but it shouldn't have surprised her. He was a selfish bastard, he had forgotten their night, and moved on. He was schmoozing again, this time taking risks being caught with a board member's wife. Even if he cared about her, had made all the defense things for the baby, and was building the daycare at work, in the end, he was just trying to make her do what he wanted her to, and that was to stay and take care of him. Well, she couldn't do that and be a decent mother to her baby. 

She had been right all along. He was unreliable. He would hurt her. He *HAD* hurt her, more than once, and would continue to do so. She had to learn not to let him in like that.

'Man I really dodged a bullet,' she thought bitterly. 'Right now, all I am is infatuated with him. That hurts enough. Imagine if we had been publicly a couple. What a scandal this would be, everyone knowing the baby is Tony's, and then less than three months before I'm due, he's caught screwing a married board member's wife. Charissa would quit over that PR nightmare. This hurts, it hurts bad. I'm pregnant by and in love with a self centered bastard. Talk about being burned. This will not happen again. Ever. I took a chance and got sideswiped twice. It's a damn good thing I never told Tony the truth. I will someday, but not now. It's over. I'm out of here. We'll deal with the board meeting tomorrow, then head home and I'll start packing. I need to find a good place to be and start getting ready for the baby. No more bad choices. Tony will never change. He isn't going to hurt me again.'

(You coward. You never gave him a real chance, you never told him the truth. A real chance is an informed one, and he’s not properly informed. He doesn’t know the baby is his. You love him, that's what you're running from)

'Then what did I see tonight? He isn't serious about me, he won't be serious about the baby. I'm not going to live my life worrying every day if he's cheating on me or going to leave me and the baby when he gets bored with us. I'm not going to be that woman. No, no more discussion, no more overthinking. I was a fool. It must be the hormones, that's the only explanation as to why I was so fucking stupid. No more of this. I'm done.'

She buried her face into the pillow, fighting off a wave of nausea and dizziness and cried herself to sleep.

She ignored her buzzing Blackberry with texts from Tony coming in. 

Tony: Pep are you ok? Happy said you were feeling bad. Do you need a doctor?

Tony: Pep I'm sorry about tonight. I wasn't doing anything. I wasn't going to. I kept telling her to stop. Please text me back. 

Tony: Pepper I know you aren't asleep. I'm so sorry about all this. I was trying to push her off when you came in. I shouldn't have even left the party with her. She said she wanted to show me a painting then jumped me. We need to talk. Please?

Tony: Pepper? Are you ignoring me? 

Tony: Pep?

Happy: Pep are you ok? Tony's freaking out worried that you're sick or something. 

Pepper; I'm fine Hap, going to sleep. I don't want to talk to him or hear his stories. I'm tired and I feel like shit. Tell him to fuck off. G'night.

**********************

Tony hadn't slept at all the night before, and knew he didn't look his best, despite his best efforts. He had hoped he would see Pepper at breakfast, and get a chance to explain himself to her, but she texted Happy first to say she was eating in her room, then to tell him that she had taken a cab to the meeting ahead of them. Tony couldn't remember the last time he felt this despondent, but at least he would see her at the meeting. He made Happy leave a half an hour early to catch up with her before the meeting, instead of his customary hour lateness to such things. 

But if Tony had any ideas about trying to talk to Pepper about last night, he was out of luck. When he and Happy caught up with her at the meeting, she was all business, and in no mood to discuss it. When he tried to approach her about it, as they walked in, she immediately told him that this was not the time or place to discuss personal matters, and to let it rest. Her face was impassive, and didn't show any sign of being upset, but Tony knew her well enough to know when she was putting on a brave front for the sake of appearances. He couldn't help but remember the terrible look on her face when she had seen Elaine on top of him, and as much as it pained him to remember that look, it also made him wonder about why he had seen it in the first place. 

He had always accepted the fact that both he and Pepper harbored minor crushes on each other through the years, but given the way she had always shot down his advances and innuendos, he assumed that she was either not interested in him, or more dedicated to her professionalism then she would be to a relationship with him. Her pregnancy, apparently by an anonymous man she did not want to discuss, also indicated to him that she was not interested in him romantically, if she were willing and able to engage in one night stands with people other than him. In the past, she had demonstrated a friendly affection towards him, and occasionally the possibility of something more, such as the night at the Fireman’s Fund Ball, when they had retreated to the balcony after dancing. So, given all of the mixed signals he had repeatedly gotten from her, and that he knew he had sent her over the years, it was no wonder that neither of them knew where they stood with the other. But Tony knew one thing for sure, and that was that he would not have seen a look of hurt on her face unless she actually cared about the fact that he was with another woman, instead of her. That alone told him that she cared enough about him in the romantic sense that he still believed he had a shot with her, assuming they could work out all the misunderstandings. But to do that, they had to talk, and she didn't seem to be much in the mood for talking. 

It was customary for Pepper to prepare for these board meetings several days in advance and email him a condensed version of her notes that he could use as talking points during the meeting, referring back to his tablet. She often sat off to one side with her own tablet, talking with him over instant message. If there was a point of information that needed to be elaborated upon, she would tell him silently over chat quickly, sending him documents or links to websites that were pertinent to the discussion going on with the board members. She was like a human external hard drive in these situations. Of course, given the nature of their text communication during the meetings, it was nearly impossible to keep from gossiping about the other board members, or talking about personal things, if the meeting got too boring. Tony knew he was going to be hard-pressed not to keep from mentioning the night before during the meeting to Pepper. 

Tony: we need to talk about last night

Pepper: there's nothing to talk about and pay attention

Tony: yes there is, you don't understand what was happening 

Pepper: it doesn't matter Tony, your personal life has never been any of my business. Now shut up, and pay attention to Wilson, he's giving projected figures for the coming fiscal year

Tony: this is nothing I can't read later. Why won't you let me explain? 

Pepper: what difference does it make? It’s none of my business. 

Tony: it matters because it IS your business. I don't want you to have the wrong idea about me and about what was happening. I was not getting down with Elaine, those days are over for me. 

Pepper: why does it matter what I think?

Tony: because I know it hurt your feelings

Pepper: there's no reason it should have. It's a free country, you can do what you want. 

Tony: how long are we going to keep this up? Aren't you tired of it yet?

Pepper: ?

Tony: pretending we're just friends. 

Pepper: Tony I'm warning you, I do not want to talk about this now. Pay attention. I'm not answering any more texts not related to this meeting. 

Tony: have it your way, but like it or not, we are talking, and soon. 

Pepper: later. I feel like crap, seriously. I can't deal right now. *Pay. Attention.*

After that, she refused to answer any more texts from him concerning their situation, and would only answer business related questions. To anyone glancing over in the corner where she sat, she appeared interested and alert. But Tony looked closer, and saw that she was rather pale, and her face was pinched, as if she were fighting off a headache. He asked her if she was okay by a text message, and she replied that she was fine, but tired. After that, he left her alone for the rest of the meeting, which seemed to go on forever. Lunch was delivered, but he noted she barely ate anything. Pepper just didn't have much of an appetite, and she was fighting off waves of dizziness, and she was feeling incredibly cold. 

Finally, around two, the meeting concluded, with the board approving the daycare and further developments by Tony into robotic baby gear. Pepper also consented to riding back to the hotel with Tony and Happy. But despite Tony's best efforts to engage her in conversation, she just stared out the window and said she was too tired to talk right now. As soon as they got to the hotel, she retreated to her room, away from Tony and away from the buzz of the meeting which had been tiring. She lay down in her bed, fighting sleepiness. 

Just then, she heard a knock on the door. With a sigh, she dragged herself up off the bed to go look through the peephole. She really hoped it wasn't Tony showing up unannounced. She really didn't feel like dealing with him. She was too confused about her own feelings, and about the situation, and the text conversation during the meeting had rattled her a little. For years, they had an unspoken agreement to not discuss openly their feelings for each other, but he had stepped over the unspoken and agreed-upon boundary by calling her out on their feelings. She was just too physically unsettled at the moment to deal with it now. She was almost relieved to see that it wasn't him, but wasn't much happier to see Elaine Hendrickson on the other side. 

What the hell could she want? She was the absolute last person that Pepper expected, or wanted to see. But she was the wife of a board member, and she couldn't be ignored. Ironically, Pepper found herself wishing it *was* Tony on the other side. Gritting her teeth, she carefully unlocked and opened the door. 

Elaine met her eyes carefully and nodded slightly. "Hello, Pepper."

"Elaine..." Pepper responded evenly with a nod in return. 

“I guess you're surprised to see me,” said Elaine. 

“A little, yeah,” admitted Pepper. “And honestly, I am not feeling too well at the moment. Is this something that can wait?” 

“Not really, no,” said Elaine. “You're going home first thing in the morning and what I have to say can't really be said over the phone.” 

“I don't see where either of us have much to say to each other,” said Pepper. “I'm not going to tell anyone what I saw, and what Tony does is his own business. My job is just to keep him out of trouble.” 

“That may be,” said Elaine. “But we both know there is plenty to say beyond that. Can I come in?”

Pepper didn't really want to say yes. She didn't want to talk to this woman and she seriously doubted she wanted to hear anything she would have to say. In fact, the only thing Pepper wanted to do was go and lie back down again. However, again, Elaine was the wife of a board member. Her husband was one of the few who actively supported Tony. Pepper couldn't really afford to be rude to her. So, with a grimace of resignation, she turned and walked away, allowing Elaine to follow her inside. 

Once inside, Pepper turned to face Elaine. She wasn't sure what could be said between them. Elaine was a married woman, the wife of a board member, who had been about to commit adultery with her husband’s CEO, and had been caught by the woman rumored to be carrying that CEOs baby at most, or rumored to be romantically linked to him at the very least. Elaine herself looked uncertain of what she was supposed to say. But she faced Pepper too and took a deep breath. 

“You know,” Elaine said “on the drive over here, I had an entire speech worked out in my head. Now that I'm here, it's completely gone.” 

Pepper said nothing, but waited, listening. 

Elaine continued, "You didn't see what you thought you saw, Pepper. I admit, I've been intimate with Tony in the past. I was looking forward to another round last night. But it took you walking in for me to realize my time is long past with him. He wasn't an active or willing participant in what was going on. He was trying to shove me off. I jumped *him.* He didn't want it. You came in right as he was trying to make me get off."

“Even if that were true, Elaine,” said Pepper, “why tell me any of this or make you think that any of this is my business in the first place?”

“Because,” Elaine sent with a wry grin, “you can deny it all you want, but we both know that you and Tony are crazy about each other. He loves you. I mean, really loves you. You can deny it if you have to, and he can deny it to me, but I can see it. I could see your feelings were hurt, and it's my fault."

“Supposing that’s true, which it isn’t,” said Pepper, “why did you come here now and tell me this? You don’t owe anyone anything.”

“Because, contrary to what you might think,” said Elaine, “I am not a heartless bitch. My own marriage might be a sham, but I am not one to break up other people’s relationships, especially if they have the potential like you and Tony do.” 

“We are not in relationship,” said Pepper. 

“Yes you are,” said Elaine, “whether you think so or not. You have all the important parts. You have friendship, working relationship, means of conflict resolution, trust, respect, affection, attraction and loyalty. And humor. Definitely humor. I mean hell, it seems the only thing you're missing is sex, and if I'm not mistaken...."

Elaine looked pointedly at Peppers stomach. Pepper blushed but didn't confirm or deny anything. Elaine turned and walked to the window and looked out over New York City. She was quiet for a full two minutes before continuing. 

"I know you think some pretty critical things about me and Frank and our marriage. You see him, a womanizing schmooze, not unlike Tony used to be. And you see me, the unfaithful older woman jumping younger men to retaliate against her husband, both of us protected by wealth and power, and not caring who we hurt. You wouldn't be wrong to think that."

Pepper waited, listening as Elaine continued. 

"We weren't always like this you know. Frank and me. At least not when we were kids. I met him in high school. We were both from some small town in the Midwest, dirt poor of course. Our dads worked to union jobs at the same factory, but we didn't get to really know each other until we were teenagers. His mother died of pneumonia, you know. They didn't have enough money for medicine, and no insurance. His dad was real proud and didn't want to take any charity. But losing his mother to a perfectly treatable disease made Frank decide that he was never going to be poor like his father. He was smart too, everyone knew he was going places. That small-town was never gonna be enough for him. It might've been enough for me, but he was the love of my life. When you're young like that, you think things are always going to be the way they are now. You don't know that people can change, and life can turn you into somebody completely different. Sometimes, I wonder how man Frank would be doing if we had never left that little town. 

Frank joined the Army and got all sorts of scholarships to college. I waited for him, like a good girlfriend should. I didn't look at any other man, and he told me he never looked at another woman, though I wonder now if that's true. Then when he got back, I waited for him to go to college. When he came back from college, and asked me to marry him, I thought I was the luckiest girl in the world. Not many boys in our town had college degrees, and everyone knew Frank was going to be successful. But I didn't know his idea of success meant moving to New York. Talk about a culture shock! I felt so out of place. A small town girl like me in New York, what was I thinking? But I loved Frank, so I adapted. He started working doing stockbroker training with a trading firm, and then later got a job with Stark Industries. 

He worked his ass off climbing the corporate ladder, and all the time, he told me he was doing it for me. I believed it the time, and I'm sure he did too, but now I wonder if he was really just doing it for himself. Frank was young and idealistic and he wanted to prove himself better than the farm boy from Kansas. But I would have been happy with just him and the kids. I didn’t need all that. We had three kids, one right after the other, and at first, Frank was so excited to be a dad. But, as the years passed he started focusing more and more on work, until he was a stranger to the kids. They hardly talk to us now, and he hardly talks to them, but I try to call as much as I can. Frank was able to send them to Ivy League schools, but beyond that he really doesn't know them. That might have been different if we had stayed home too.

Frank starting criticizing me for being too ‘small town.’ I learned to talk and dress like the other wives, learned to care about the same shallow crap they did, learned to gossip about people we called friends and compete our children’s achievements in expensive schools against each other. I focused on being the kind of wife a man like Frank thought he ought to have, classy and cultured and refined. I didn’t recognize myself.

Then, when he got appointed to the board at Stark, he turned into a complete stranger I didn't recognize anymore. He started chasing skirts and then, eventually, not even trying to lie about it. I threatened to leave him, of course. But I was the cliché of the entrapped wife who had no skills at supporting herself, and needed her husband to survive. I had got used to the lifestyle, and since I didn't have anything else, I figured losing Frank would mean losing everything. He told me he’d cut me off, maybe even take the kids from me if I left them. So, I struck back the only way I knew how. I started having affairs too, including with his boss Tony even though he doesn't know about that one. Tony seemed like the best revenge, honestly. Like me, he wasn't looking for a relationship or complications, he just wanted a good time. The fact that I was the wife of a board member made it especially sweet for him, but the fact that he's my husband's boss makes it extra sweet revenge for me. The crazy thing is, I think I still love Frank. Anytime I think about really getting up and leaving him, I just go cold. I'll never do it. And I think in his own way, he still loves me. 

But one thing I do know is this: I never set out to hurt anybody other than Frank, certainly not my kids, and not you or Tony. Tony is an ass, but deep down, he's a sweet guy. I think we both know that. I wasn't trying to get him in trouble or hurt him. And you, well, you've been nothing but supportive of me and Frank around the office. You didn't deserve that. 

The crazy thing is, I know Tony loves you. In a lot of ways, he always has. He doesn't let people be his friend too often, but you, you're his best friend. I know if Tony thought he had a shot with you, as far as he's concerned there would be no other woman on the planet except you. The two of you have something that some married couples never have, something me and Frank never had. I don't really know what kind of quality it is that makes you two different than me and Frank, but it's something deeper than just love. 

It's something almost like spiritual. Pepper, don't let me stand in the way of that. There's nothing there between me and Tony. He only has eyes for you, and he was trying to push me off when you walked in. He didn't want it and I didn't want to believe it. I don’t get rejected much, and it’s not easy to take in. Don't make the same kind of mistakes I made. Don't walk away from him and don't let him walk away from you. Don't make him pay because I made terrible mistakes. My mistake was in not walking away when I should have years ago. Yours would be to walk when you shouldn’t"

Pepper had to admit that she was rattled by Elaine’s story. Of all the things she expected the older woman to say, she had not been expecting that. Despite her anger at Elaine and Tony and the situation, she had to admit that her heart ached for Elaine, trapped in a loveless marriage that maybe never had love to begin with. 

Pepper asked, in a shaky voice, “Why are you telling me all this and why now?”

“Because,” said Elaine “I don't want to be responsible for you and Tony losing a real relationship just because my false one has left me emotionally bankrupt. I could be jealous of the two of you, but instead, I'm happy for the two of you. When I see something real for two people, something I thought I had but realized I never did, I don't want those two people to feel what I had to. Just give him another chance.” 

Pepper said nothing but nodded. 

“Anyway,” said Elaine, “have a good trip home. Good luck with the baby.” 

With those words, Elaine turned and walked out of the hotel room, leaving Pepper shaking, but pondering. What did she really want? Did she want Tony or not? Did she want him as just a friend or something more? Did she want him as a father to her child, or did she want to keep him at a distance? Was what Elaine said true, or did Tony put her up to it to back up his own explanation? Pepper really didn't think he had, but she weighed all options. 

She was freezing. The thermostat only let her set it to 75F and nothing higher. She decided to go soak in a hot bath, curl up in bed and sleep on it. She would have to decide what she really wanted. Her reluctance to tell Tony the truth really stemmed from the uncertainty of what she truly wanted. She understood that now. Elaine's story had served its purpose as a cautionary tale against letting love slip away due to pride and hurt. She certainly didn't want that for herself. No, it was time to make some real decisions. 

**************************

Tony couldn't remember the last time he had been this miserable. It was 1 am and he hadn't slept a wink. So many times, he wanted to pick up his phone and call or text Pepper, or get up and go down the hall to her room and talk to her. They each had a room key to the other's room, a habit they formed over the years for security reasons, and because she often had to help his inebriated ass to bed, or run back and get a file he had forgotten. But no, he couldn't just barge in on her, that wouldn't help his cause. 

He was lying on his back staring at the ceiling. Every time he started to nod off, that terrible scene at the party kept replaying itself in his head. Elaine on top of him, Pepper walking in, the terrible look of hurt on her face before her walls came back up, blocking him out and pulling the mask of impassive expression over her face, and turning her back and walking out. He hated thinking he had hurt her, and he hated worse knowing it was because she probably did feel the same way about him as he did for her, and believed any chance with him was gone because of what she had seen. 

She still believed, because of the incident, that he was still the irresponsible, womanizing playboy, and that was not who she wanted for herself or for her baby. He had to convince her otherwise, that he didn't want anyone but her, that he was ready to try for a real, committed relationship, but he didn't know how he could. She was probably furious with him, or disgusted at least. She had evaded his attempts to talk to her, and he had nothing backing himself up while her own eyes had given her all the evidence she needed against him. 

He rolled onto his stomach and buried his face in the pillow. He angrily fought back stinging years threatening to escape. He hadn't cried over a girl since he was 13 and his crush had called him a freak to her friends. But for Pepper, he'd cry a while ocean if it could make things right with her, or relieve some of this pain in his heart. 

Suddenly, he became aware of a buzzing sound. He looked up in time to see the screen of his Blackberry going dark. It was a text. His first impulse was to ignore it and go back to wallowing in his misery. It was probably Happy again checking on him for the fifth time tonight. But even Happy wouldn't text at 1 AM unless it was important. His next thought was of Pepper. 

He snatched up the phone and look at it. It *was* from Pepper. 

Pepper: hey r u awake?

Tony: yeah. Y r u?

Pepper: can't sleep. Can't get comfortable. I’m freezing. 

Tony: did you call the front desk and tell them your room is cold?

Pepper: it's not the room. Stat set on 75. That's the highest it will go. It's me. Can't get warm. Don't feel so good. 

Tony: that worries me. You looked off on the plane, you felt bad the whole trip. Maybe call Dr.?

Pepper: I have another check up in three days when we get back. Think I'm just getting a cold or something. 

Tony: want me to come over there? 

Pepper: not much you could do. Up to you. 

Tony: on my way

Tony jumped out of bed and threw his slippers on. He was only wearing a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, but he couldn't care less about running the halls in his pajamas. He was so astounded that Pepper had not only texted him first, but was also having a conversation with him when he was sure she would never want to speak to him again, that he didn't want to let the opportunity pass. Plus, he really was worried about her. She had looked sort of pale and had been complaining of being cold and dizzy for two days. Tony had asked JARVIS to look up her symptoms, but for a pregnant woman, it could mean anything from hormone fluctuations to a cold coming on to blood pressure problems. It could be a minor problem or something bigger. Either way, Tony didn't want her to be by herself. He grabbed the spare keys and flew down the hall to her room in record time. He knocked softly, then let himself in. 

He walked carefully into the room and saw Pepper on the bed wrapped up in all of the covers like a cocoon, facing away from him. Tony found the room to be rather warm himself, but Pepper was bundled up as if she were sleeping in an igloo. 

“Hey Pep, you ok?” he asked. 

“Yeah,” she replied halfheartedly. 

He carefully walked around to her side of the bed where she was facing. Only her head was visible under all of the covers. He reached out and brushed the back of his hand along her cheek. She flinched a little but didn't move. She felt a little cool, but nothing out of the ordinary. He pulled back the covers and reached for her arm. It was cold. He pulled the covers back on little more to where her knees were pulled up to her stomach and touched her leg. 

Her eyes flew open and she lifted her head. “Hey, what are you doing?” she asked. 

“Just checking,” he replied. “Jesus, Pepper, you’re freezing,” he said. “You’re cold all over and this room is kind of warm.” 

“Told you,” she said. “It's like I have a chill or something. I just can't warm up.” 

“I think we should call a doctor,” he said

“And tell them what, that I'm cold?” she scoffed. “Tony, if I ran to the doctor every time this pregnancy make me uncomfortable in some way, I might as well change my address to my doctor’s office because I never leave.” 

She grabbed the covers and pulled them back around her. Tony shook his head in frustration at her stubbornness. Then, he went around to the other side of the bed and kicked off his slippers. Before she could register what he was doing, he pulled the covers up and slipped into bed beside her. 

“Tony, what the hell are you doing?” she asked. 

“Don't take it personal,” he said. “I'm just trying to help you warm up. No funny business, I promise.” 

He pulled himself up behind her, pushing her back to his chest. He spooned himself around her with the tops of his legs against the back of hers, and his arm went around her waist, the palm of his hand resting on her lower ribs. 

“I don't think so,” she said, starting to move away. 

“I promise I'm just trying to help you get warm,” he said. “Settle down.” 

Given everything that has happened between them, Pepper knew she should insist that he get out right away. But truth be told, she just didn't want to. She wanted him there. She wanted to snuggle with him. Right or wrong, she was just tired, tired of fighting both him and herself. It was no less of a surprise to Tony when she complied and laid her head back down, allowing him to pull her close. 

“Sorry if my arc is digging into your back,” he said somewhat self-consciously. 

“It isn't,” she said. 

Tony dropped his nose into her hair and inhaled. He loved her scent, it was uniquely her. He found it comforting, and it helped him to focus on that one thing, rather than the fact that he was actually lying in bed with Pepper, and actually cuddling with her, no less. As a rule, Tony didn't cuddle. It required a certain level of intimacy he didn't care to attempt with most of the women he had been with. It was actually a very novel experience to cuddle with anyone. That it was Pepper made it all the more amazing, even better than most of the sex he had ever had. 

She was indeed cold. It was a bit like cuddling with something from the freezer section at the supermarket. How could she be this cold and not have something wrong with her? But then, he remembered reading that pregnant women often had temperature fluctuations. Only they tended to run hot instead of cold. Leave it to Pepper to be the oddball. He carefully brought his hand from her ribs and started to rub her arm, then her back. 

“What are you doing?” she asked. 

“Warming you up,” he replied. “Tell me if you want me to stop.” 

She didn't, so he continued. They laid there for several minutes not talking as he continued to rub away the coldness from her limbs. His fingers began massaging between her shoulder blades, and along her spine, carefully smoothing her skin under her shirt. Eventually, he felt her begin to relax next to him. 

Pepper felt herself slowly starting to warm up. The heat from Tony's body slowly permeated her own. Although her critical mental voice was screaming at her that she was well on the way to making the same mistake twice, and that she was an utter fool for allowing this, she told it firmly to shut the hell up and allowed herself to snuggle closer to him. She was lonely and it had been a hard six months since his birthday. She relished this closeness to him, even if she still was uncertain of her feelings. 

Tony, on the other hand, was trying to keep his brain from melting down. Could it really be possible that only a few hours ago, Pepper was furious with him and he was wallowing in self misery, and now she had voluntarily texted him, and he was now in bed with her cuddling? Life really was strange sometimes. Both of them were silent for a long time, not sure how to proceed from the silent truce that seem to have been agreed upon. Tony continued to rub her back, feeling her warm up again, before carefully broaching the elephant in the room. 

“So what made you decide to text me?” he asked. “You're not mad anymore?”

“I was never mad,” she answered honestly. “Disappointed mostly.” 

Tony hung his head but stayed quiet. 

“Well,” Pepper continued, “Elaine Hendrickson stopped by for a visit earlier. She pretty much said the same thing you did, that it was her doing.” 

Tony was honestly surprised. “Why in the world would she do that?” he asked. 

“She said she didn't want to be responsible for us....well, having any   
Misunderstandings,” Pepper said. 

“Wow,” said Tony. “Not really something I would have thought of her.” 

Pepper recounted for Tony the story that Elaine had told her and said, “I think everyone makes mistakes when it comes to relationships with other people. But it seems like, between the two of us, we have more than our fair share of it. It's getting old. I just don't know what we're supposed to do at this point. You asked me during the meeting how long we're going to keep pretending we're just friends. I know were not just friends. But even if we aren't, what does it mean? What do you want from me Tony?”

Tony could scarcely believe what he was hearing. This was the kind of conversation that Pepper avoided at all costs. Was she really acknowledging that they had feelings for each other, and asking him what he wanted? He could only give her the truth at this point. He dropped his hand back down her front, and rested his palm sling her lower ribs, his thumb just brushing under her breast. He gently pulled her as close against his chest as he could. 

“I want something real,” he said. “I want something long term, that lasts longer than a night or a week even. I want something that will still be there whether I have a mansion on the coast, or I'm stuck living under a bridge. I'm tired of all the fake stuff. I want to know someone actually cares about me. I don't think I've ever had that before.” 

“And you want that with me?” she asked. “Even though I come with baggage now?” 

“Well...yeah,” he said. “I've known you for over a decade, a lot longer than just with the baggage. This isn't just coming out of nowhere you know. It’s been a long time coming.” 

“Yeah I do know,” she said. “It's just, well, there's a lot to think about and consider.” 

“If you're talking about Elaine, I can promise you that isn't going to happen again” he said. “Not with her or with anyone else. I know I hurt your feelings. All I can do is try and make up for it. I know I am going to do a lot of things, and I have done a lot of things, that will need a lot of patience and forgiveness.” 

“You aren't the only one who will, Tony” she said. “What's something you would consider to be an unforgivable offense? Something so terrible you couldn't forgive it?”

Tony was confused. “Why, what could you have possibly done? You're not going to tell me that you're embezzling money from the company are you?” he joked. 

“No,” said Pepper “I'm not. I just wondered if there was anything I could do that would make you change your mind about me.” 

“Nothing I can think of,” Tony answered honestly. “Well, I might have a hard time forgiving if you are going to tell me that you were in cahoots with Obadiah. But who knows, I might even have been able to forgive *him* if he had asked for it. From behind bars of course. I just don't know.” 

She was about to respond, when suddenly, she felt a kick, firm and undeniable. Tony, with his hand still resting on her abdomen, only felt the recoil. She grabbed his hand and moved it down to the side of her stomach, silently willing the baby to kick again. Despite the old saying that a watched pot never boils, and that a felt-for baby never kicks, this one complied and kicked again, hard enough for Tony to feel it. 

“Is that...?” he asked, as another kick came right into his hand. “Oh wow.” 

She turned her head to look at him, and saw his expression was one of amazement. She almost laughed at how funny that was, that a man who had survived what he had, and created the Iron Man suits, and other inventions ,that he had could find something as commonplace as the kick of an unborn baby even more wondrous. 

“Does that hurt?” he asked hesitantly. 

“Not really,” she said. “That one wasn't in my spleen this time. It's more weird than anything else.” 

Tony felt an overwhelming rush of emotion like he had never experienced before. He simply had no frame of reference for it. Nothing he had ever experienced in his life before could prepare him for the sensation of feeling a living being of flesh and bone and a beating heart moving around inside his friend. This tiny little thing inside of her was really real. It was part of Pepper, but uniquely itself. It hit him then that he had not wondered before now whether it was a boy or girl, but now he did. He supposed it was part of a defense mechanism to keep the whole thing at arms’ length from himself. But now, he realized, he didn't want to be at arms’ length. He wanted to be a part of this because it was part of her, and he wanted all of her. But would she let him? 

Pepper had only thought she was confused and feeling mixed emotions before. Now she was really in turmoil. It was easier to convince herself that Tony had the morality of a salamander, and she was better off without him, when she kept herself at a distance from him, and actively shut him out. It was far less easy to do with him lying in bed next to her, trying to keep her warm while his hand moved over her to distended belly, feeling a baby kick with wonder, that he believed was not his, not knowing that it was. She had to tell him. She turned toward him. 

In that same instant, Tony dropped his face to her hair again and forced back a whimper. He had been overwhelmed with even more images in his mind of Pepper lying like this, next to him, with her back against his chest, only they were both naked and spent, from that same dream-like vision he kept having of the two of them. The image hit him with a jolt, which went straight to his groin. She just felt so wonderful up next to him like this, and oddly so familiar. That was silly, of course, he thought to himself. He had slept next Pepper before on the plane, but not as close to her this. That must be some strong dream he had had to cause him to react to the real thing this way. 

He carefully shifted his groin away from her, hoping she didn't feel his growing erection, desperately trying to think of cold showers and igloos. It wasn't working. That's all he needed now was for her to feel that, and assume, yet again, that he was just slipping back to his old tricks, this time with her.

'Good Christ man, are you serious?' he thought to himself. 'This is not some cheap slut, it's Pepper! And she's *pregnant.* Aside from the fact that she is at a very emotionally and physically vulnerable state in her life right now, and you'd be taking advantage of her, and she basically said she doesn't know what she feels about you, AND probably still have some kind of feeling towards Mr. Anonymous Sperm Donor, she's *pregnant.* You're not seriously thinking of getting down with a pregnant woman are you?'

(Yes. It's Pepper) 

'Oh god, you can't be serious. That's like, all kinds of wrong!'

(Married couples do it all the time. And I read in that article about women at this stage of pregnancy having elevated libidos, something about extra blood flow to the sensitive areas.)

'You've done some sexually outrageous stuff in your life, but this has to top it. I hope to god mom's not watching from somewhere ethereal'

(Could be fun. And I love her. It wouldn't be that weird. Not with her. With anyone else, though, yeah it would be)

Then, he felt Pepper turn towards him and open her mouth, as if to say something. Before he could stop himself, he leaned down and covered her mouth with his. His lips slid effortlessly against hers, and he exerted just enough pressure that she couldn't reflexively turn away like he expected her to. Actually, he expected her to punch him, and yell at him for being the kind of asshole who gets caught with another man's wife only 24 hours ago, then comes into the room of a pregnant woman not feeling too great, climbs into bed with her and kisses her uninvited in a clearly opportunistic attempt at taking advantage of her vulnerable state. 

What he didn't expect was for her to go rigid next to him, as if debating the situation or trying to overcome shock, then actually lean into him and kiss him back. She was kissing him back!

He was *kissing* Pepper!

He was kissing *Pepper*!

And it felt wonderful, and....familiar. So familiar. He brushed off the feeling, that odd sense of deja vu. She felt familiar because he knew her so well, he figured. That had to be it. Gently, he pushed her carefully into her back, as he hiked himself up on his elbow on his side and leaned over her, kissing her firmly. Her hand hesitated in midair slightly, then moved into his hair and tangled her fingers into his locks, gently pulling him down. His nervous system went into overdrive and he went to full staff in a matter of seconds. 

The urgency with which he wanted her even caught him by surprise. This was probably the first time in his life that he could recall being truly appreciate of what it was like to want a woman beyond merely physical reasons. And he wanted Pepper Badly. His desire for her escalated even further, as he felt her turn into him and press herself against him. It was then that her hip rolled into his and she felt his erection tenting out the front of his pants. He tried to roll back, but it was too late, she had already felt him. 

She broke the kiss and her eyes met his with a wry expression. “Seriously?” she asked. 

To his surprise Tony felt his face turn red. “I'm sorry, I can't help it,” he said. “This has always been my reaction around you, I've just become an expert at hiding it.” 

“You seriously want...me? Like this?” she asked with hesitation. “I'm the size of a beached whale. I must be exerting my own gravitational fields by now.” 

“Stop that,” he said firmly. “You're pregnant and you're beautiful. And...yeah, well....I've always uh...well, found you attractive.” 

Now it was her turn to blush. “Do you really, um, want to do this?” she asked. 

“Do you?” he asked. 

She did. Oh god she really did. Memories of the night of his birthday party were flooding her mind at that moment, desperate for a repeat, even in her compromised physical condition. The critical voice of her mind was having a near stroke in outrage, but the part of her soul that knew the truth was overriding her critical mind. She loved him. She had done this before, and he had not remembered. She knew he would remember this one, and maybe even the last one. Would it be worth it?

Tony took her silence for uncertainty. “I mean you don't have to,” he said. “I know you've got a lot on your mind, and I know you're still trying to figure out all these new stages in your life. I don't want to add to the pile of confusing stuff you need to sort out.” 

‘You are the pile of confusing stuff I need to sort out’ she thought. 

“Tony I...I do want you. I do, I'm just...what... what happens tomorrow?” she asked. “What are we going to be tomorrow.” 

“Whatever you're ready for,” he said. “But if you don't know what that is right now, then maybe we should wait. I don’t want you regretting anything tomorrow. And I don't want to...uh...hurt you or the...the baby...”

She smiled slightly. “The odds of that happening are pretty low,” she said. “But if you're not sure about me, being like this...” 

She trailed off and looked away, slightly embarrassed at her behavior. Her critical voice was in the process of trying to convince her he was backing off because she was pregnant and couldn't possibly be physically attracted to her at this point, but thankfully her sensible side was louder this time. He had flat out told her that wasn't it, and she knew he was right about her ambivalence. She wanted him, but she didn't want a repeat of the last morning after for any reason. As mixed up as she was right now, she didn't want him to think that any regrets she might have would be completely his fault. They needed to be clear with each other about what they were going to be to each other from now on, first. For the sake of the baby, if nothing else, she had to try to do things the right way with him.

“Pepper, you’re the only one I would want in this condition, or any condition, for any reason,” he said firmly. “Don’t even go there. I just don’t want to rush into things if you’re not clear. All I have ever done is rush things, clearly that hasn’t worked out.” 

“Maybe... maybe you're right,” she said somewhat regretfully. 

He was disappointed but he nodded in ascent. “So are we going to try?” he asked. 

“Try being...together?” she asked. 

“Yeah,” he said. 

“And the baby?” she asked. “You certainly didn't ask for this.” 

“Well, you didn't ask for Iron Man,” he said with a smile, “I guess the big stuff comes with the package. Besides, the kid might be fun. I probably wouldn't have thought so a few years ago, but things can change. Fair warning though, I'm going to mess up a lot. Probably pretty badly too.” 

She smiled and said, “Well that makes two of us.” 

He shook his head and said “No, you never messed up. Not too bad anyway.” 

Her eyes fell slightly. “That's not true, I’ve messed up bad in a lot of ways,” she said. 

She was starting to get uncomfortable on her back with the weight of the baby pressed directly downward, so she settled back in the position with her back against his chest and they slowly started to settle down. Tony was faced with the uncomfortable situation of trying to ignore his aching loins until his erection finally subsided several minutes later, though. Pepper in the meantime was trying to figure out which of them any speeches she had prepared and her head where appropriate to tell him the truth in a situation like this. None of them seemed appropriate and she wrangled for several minutes. 

To break the tension, Tony joked “You know, I don’t know if you’ve thought about names yet, but since you won’t find out whether it’s a boy or a girl, we’ll have to come up with something to call it. How about Pipsqueak? We can call it Pip for short. Or Whoops. Or Oops. Yeah, I like Oops…”

“Tony, we’re not calling this baby Oops,” she said with mock exasperation.

“Then find out if it’s a boy or girl. There’s a betting pool going on around the office,” he said.

Tony was relaxed behind her, with his arm carefully around her, clutching her gently. She went back to trying to pick out the best speech she had rehearsed to tell him the truth. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but when she glanced at the clock, it read 2:30 AM. It was time to stop stalling. Best just to blurt it out.

“Tony,” she whispered, “it's yours. The baby is yours.” 

His answer was a soft snore behind her. He was fast asleep. He had not heard her.


	8. Chapter 8

"So what exactly is a 4D sonogram anyway?" asked Tony from the floor, his eyes never leaving the television screen. He was locked in a fierce race of Mario Kart against James, Charissa's 7 year old son. Pepper was sitting nearby on the sofa, trying to cautiously determine whether or not baby Caroline needed another diaper change or not. Tony and Pepper had agreed to Charissa's suggestion that they practice on her kids by babysitting, while she and her husband Todd had a much needed date night to themselves. After the PR nightmare they had put her through, Pepper had readily agreed. She hadn't babysat since high school, and knew her skills we're extremely rusty, and she was running out of time to practice. Plus, she had to admit, she'd pay good money to see Tony change a diaper. 

Tony, in his eagerness to demonstrate to Pepper that he could be parental in any form, had agreed to this, even if reluctantly. He was nervous, but wanted a practice crack at dealing with kids, something he had never done before, before the baby arrived. If they were going to try for a serious relationship in the near future, the baby was going to be a daily part of the deal, and he would have to step up. Furthermore, Pepper was going to have to have a reasonable confidence in his abilities to keep the kid alive and safe under his watch. 

He and Pepper had spent the last week in a state of limbo. Pepper had intended to tell Tony the truth, when he was awake to hear it, the morning after their midnight conversation, and almost-copulation. But she had woken up the next morning with a splitting, pounding headache, dizziness, chills, pressure in her forehead, and shaking. She was nauseous, and felt so horrible that tears had squeezed out of her eyes. Alarmed, Tony had called Happy, who, in true Happy fashion, had arrived in seconds, and only raised a single eyebrow at the apparent fact that his two bosses had obviously slept in the same bed, and were not only speaking, but back to being affectionate to each other, when the last Happy had known was that they were hurt and pissed at each other over the incident at the party. He had asked no questions, but had fetched the doctor Tony had asked him to, who had arrived and examined Pepper, despite her protests, and diagnosed her with a sinus infection and blossoming cold, prescribed antibiotics and bed rest and fluids, and had left right as Pepper sprouted a fever in time to leave for the airport and their flight back to California. 

Flying while pregnant, and with a sinus infection backing up into the inner ears, is utterly miserable, as pressure changes caused even more pain, and Pepper had never been so glad to see the ground, her own apartment and bed again. She might have told Tony the truth then, as she settled into bed and he prepared to crash on her couch and take care of her. But then, another Iron Man mission came through, and he had reluctantly had to leave her with Happy, with instructions to their friend to call him immediately if she took a downturn. She had spent the next two days asleep, and when Tony came back, he had caught her cold, most likely from the make-out session. He then spent 3 days in bed himself, forbidding her to come over and re-catch the germs herself. Agreeing to help her watch Charissa's kids was the first real time they had spent together all week, and there had not been much time to talk about serious matters, at least not in front of the children. She had only managed to tell him about the surprise baby shower the office had thrown for her, about constantly bring ambushed by paparazzi any time her coffee group went down the street to Starbucks, and the 4D sonogram appointment the next day. 

"It's where they do a special sonogram so they can see the baby inside really good," said 10 year old Hannah from the table where she was doing her homework. "Mom had one done with Caroline, wanna see?"

"Sure," said Pepper as the girl jumped up and got a small book off the bookcase. She opened it and showed them a picture of what looked like a very detailed sonogram, clearly showing a then-unborn Caroline. 

"That’s kinda cool," Tony said turning back to the game. The administration staff had all chipped in to get the session as a gift to Pepper. It wasn't considered medically necessary, and thus could be a little expensive to have done, and Pepper was touched, although she secretly wondered if they had done it to get a good look at her baby, and thus start taking bets on who the father was. Still, it was scheduled for tomorrow, and she had to admit, she was curious as to what her baby looked like. 

"Well," said Pepper, "she needs a change and it's your turn."

"I changed a massive poopy one when we first got here," he retorted. "And as far as I'm concerned, that's worth at least two pees. Maybe even three. That kid had to have violated some EPA ordinances. And I got it on my *hand.* There’s not enough soap on the planet."

He swerved his car straight into James and ran him off the road.

"Hey!" James protested, lobbing several red shells at Tony's character.

"Tony," Pepper warned, "That’s not how it works. And go easy on the kid will you? You'll crush his spirit."

At that moment, James lobbed three red shells at Tony's car, blowing him off the track and zipping by to the finish line. 

"Who's crushing whose spirit here?" he asked dejectedly as James' character did a little victory dance. "Besides, I also fed the kid."

"You call letting her throw her bottle all over the room and spray milk on everything in Charissa's living room 'feeding the kid'?" she said with a slight eye roll. 

"She drank the rest of it," laughed Tony. "She's good."

Pepper sighed and scooped up the baby, calling back over her shoulder, "When my kid comes, there won't be any of that."

"I thought you were going to be doing all the feeding?" he asked, staring pointedly at her chest. 

"Then you'll be changing *all* the diapers," she quipped, heading for Caroline's room to change her as Tony retorted, "Just as well, you put her last diaper on backwards."

No sooner did she have the baby's diaper off than the infant decided to spray everything in reach, having clearly waited to do so as soon as the diaper was off.

"Arrrgh! Help!" Pepper called. 

The sound of running feet came down the hallway as Tony and Hannah appeared in the doorway. 

"She's peeing everywhere!" Pepper cried. 

Hannah sprang to action and grabbed a small washcloth from the side caddy of the changing table to cover the baby, and started handing wet wipes to Pepper. In no time at all, with the older girl's help, Caroline was cleaned, changed, and the changing table cover replaced. 

"Ready for a baby now?" Hannah joked, looking for all the world like her mother usually did and with the same expression. 

"Totally," Pepper quipped back, as Tony went down the hall at the sound of the opening front door. 

Charissa's voice came from the hallway, "So, how did it go?"

Pepper and Tony only managed pained smiles and shrugs as Caroline and James went tearing by, unrolling a roll of toilet paper. 

"Everything normal," said Hannah with a shrug. Charissa only smiled. 

*************

Pepper and Tony had arrived in separate cars and, despite wanting to follow her home, or better yet, have her stay at his house, which she declined, Tony ended up leaving first while Pepper stayed, intending to talk to Charissa for only a few minutes, but ended up being an hour. 

She was utterly exhausted when she got home, and still not fully recovered from being sick, or sleeping too well. If she had been, she might have noticed that her door was unlocked when she walked in. It was dark, and she was disoriented, which was why she did not take notice of the form that stepped out of the shadows behind her, until a rough hand clamped over her nose and mouth from behind, and another hand grabbed her arm and twisted it painfully behind her. She yelped in shock and fear. 

"Don't move, bitch," growled an ugly voice behind her, with a thick accent. "I've got plans for Tony Stark, and you're just what I need for bait."

********************

Tony collapsed onto the sofa in his workshop, trying not to admit that he was so tired from just watching kids, but reluctantly admitting that he was shell shocked. It wasn't necessarily that the kids were difficult, but that there were just so many little details at once, and there was never a chance for a break, not even with Pepper there with him. He was a little disheartened to think that he was so inadequate at caring for young children, and he hoped that ever didn't take his dismal performance as status quo. He was determined to learn the ropes, and be better for her baby. 

He was about to ask JARVIS to pull up some more parenting information that he could educate himself with, when the computer itself spoke up, it's accented voice tight with alarm. 

“Sir, I am picking up a signal from Ms. Potts’ defense bracelet. I am showing that her defense systems deployed approximately three seconds ago.” 

Tony bolted upright to his feet. “What happened? Where is she, JARVIS?” he asked, already sprinting to his suit assembly platform. 

“I am showing that her taser shot off about 20 seconds ago,” replied JARVIS, “and her full body shield shell deployed shortly after that. Her vitals are stable, but her heart rate is highly elevated, and her blood pressure has skyrocketed. She appears to be at her apartment, sir,” said the AI. 

Tony heard nothing else as the bots assembled the suit on him. The hole that he had created in the ceiling and floors, when he had accidentally come crashing through on his first test flight, had not exactly been repaired, as Tony had figured the openings made a convenient launch tube. Instead, he had installed dilating floor panels that could open and allow for straight ascent from the basement. He shot straight up into the night sky, and pushed his afterburners to maximum as he angled himself in the direction of Pepper’s apartment. 

'Please let her be okay' he thought to himself, as he raced in her direction

****************

"That's it, you're moving in with me!" Tony fumed. 

"*Moving in* with you?" Pepper exclaimed from the gurney where the paramedic was taking her blood pressure for the second time. "Tony, don't you think that's a little drastic?"

"Absolutely not," he shot back firmly. "We don't know he didn't bring some friends along. I recognize this bastard. I watched him shoot three women and children in Yinsen's village without so much as a flinch. I thought I got all these Ten Rings monsters a few months ago. Who knows how many I missed? You're not safe here. No security system I install here will beat my house's security. Until I know there won't be more attempts like this, you're safer with JARVIS keeping watch 24/7. This was meant to lure me out of my compound and it worked. Only that bracelet changed his plans."

Pepper closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could certainly understand Tony being petrified. She was still shaking herself. She had realized how foolish she had been letting her guard down, even being tired, and how precarious her situation was once the terrorist had grabbed her from behind, her worst nightmare come true. She always knew someone from Tony's past could come after her, and the baby, but she had lulled herself into believing it most likely wouldn't happen. But the man who had been one of the terrorists in the group holding Tony hostage, and had come seeking revenge for his fallen friends, had been resourceful. And determined. He had managed to get into the country undetected, a fact that was being turned over to Interpol at the moment for further investigation. No doubt he would have killed her in front of Tony as soon as he walked in, had it not been for the bracelet Tony had made for her that had become so familiar on her wrist she hardly noticed it now.

But she certainly noticed when it had sprung to life on her arm, firing the   
taser beam at the man from the arm he was holding behind her back. He had screamed as he had fallen, watching in fury as the nanite shell had formed a silvery casing around her, making her unreachable. And apparently the taser had only had a minor effect on him, or it had not hit him squarely. He recovered much sooner than she expected, forcing her to fire off the sound paralyzer to finally immobilize him, with her shell guarding her own ears. It was then that Tony had burst in through the door in full Iron Man armor, repulsors at ready. The only thing that had stopped him from killing the immobilized man on the ground, once he recognized him and registered what the man had likely intended, was Pepper's pleading voice of reason telling him the man was more valuable alive to get information out of. That was the only thing that could have stopped Tony from committing cold blooded murder, as angry and afraid for Pepper as he was. 

They had called the authorities, the police and SHIELD, and it had been two hours already. Pepper was nearly dead on her feet from exhaustion, and the paramedics had checked her over twice, having put her on a fetal monitor immediately to check for harm to the baby. They reluctantly agreed she could skip a trip to the hospital as long as she wasn't left alone the rest of the night, and would agree to go to the ER immediately if she felt anything wrong, any pain or contractions. Tony insisted JARVIS could monitor her constantly, and pointed out to her that she probably didn't want to stay here alone now anyway. 

Actually she didn't, but she had planned to go crash at Lauren's place. She wasn't sure staying with Tony was the best move, considering they were still trying to work out the details of what it would take for them to become a serious couple, something they hadn't talked about since the night in her hotel room. The only reason Pepper agreed to go to Tony's at all was that she really didn't care where it happened, but she needed to be in bed asleep some time very soon. 

Tony gathered up his helmet and helped her pack several bags of things she would need, secured her apartment with a portable system that linked back to JARVIS along with a few extra deadbolts, then squeezed into the back of a police cruiser with her that drove them back to his mansion. She was asleep by the time they got there, and he carefully carried her upstairs. He really wanted to put her in his room with him, but he knew she was still borderline about where they stood with each other, so he opted to bring her to "her" guest room, tuck her in, shed the suit and then collapse himself into the chair beside her bed, refusing to leave her until the sun came up. His worst fears seemed to be becoming reality. He swore he would do anything to keep her and the baby safe.

***************

The 4D ultrasound place was off a side street near a residential area in a nice, older looking building that had once been an artist gallery. Inside, the waiting area looked more like a living room, and the session room looked nothing like a medical sonogram room, except for the equipment in the corner. A large, 154 inch screen sat along one wall with several sofas and easy chairs facing it. A comfortable lounge chaise was near the equipment for the expectant mother to lie back on and soft, tinkling nursery music played in the background, with dim lights creating a relaxed atmosphere. 

Tony had suggested that Pepper reschedule the appointment, given the night before, but Pepper had been insistent. A 4D sonogram had to be done during a specific window in the pregnancy, and that was when the fetus’ features were fully formed, but it was not yet big enough to be squashed up inside the womb. Pepper’s window was rapidly closing, and she doubted that the place would be able to reschedule her in time. They were usually booked. Plus, she contended, it would help take her mind off the horror of what had nearly happened, and would get them to focus on something positive.

Pepper lay back on the lounge as Charissa, Lauren, Happy and Rhodey all took up places on the sofas and chairs. Tony wasn't sure at first where he should sit, either with the others or next to Pepper in the chair normally reserved for the father next to the lounge. Pepper didn't seem to indicate a preference, so, with a smile, he took the chair next to her. 

The men looked a little uncomfortable with the whole thing, but the women chattered back and forth excitedly. By this point in any pregnancy, a woman has had at least two, or sometimes three, normal sonograms, so this was just routine for Pepper and Charissa. Lauren also mentioned, offhandedly, that she and Chris had discussed having children themselves, and so she was interested in the process. 

While the men felt a bit like fish out of water, with Rhodey even making a few jokes about checking his testicles at the door due to all the estrogen overload, he said it with good humor and a grin in Pepper’s direction. Rhodey and Happy colored visibly when the technician pulled Pepper’s shirt up over her belly to rub the lubricant jelly on, and graciously looked away, but Tony couldn't help but stare in fascination. It was amazing to him how much she had changed in only a few short months. He could begin to understand why people said the process of pregnancy was wondering, even though Pepper and Charissa agreed there was little that was actually pretty or beautiful about it. 

Charissa joked that, after three times, she would concede that it was a miraculous event, but there was very little beautiful about throwing up every morning and having your body feel like it has been taken over by an alien force, causing swelling ankles, and varicose veins. Still, she assured Pepper, she wouldn't trade a single minute of it. 

Tony, for his part, was both interested and nervous. Even though the lounge that Pepper was reclining on looked very little like any kind of medical table, the equipment reminded him sharply that a sonogram was a medical tool, and that there was still a lot that could go wrong with a pregnancy, even in the 21st-century. Women still died from complications, even in hospitals, and the sight of Pepper willingly submitting to a medical procedure jolted him somewhat. On the other hand, he had never witnessed any kind of sonogram being done live. Pepper had had the medically required, normal sonograms at her doctor’s office, and had brought the print-outs to show everybody. To Tony, he could barely make out the moderately human shaped blob in the photos, and it really didn't do much for his interest level. This, on the other hand, was a different matter. Not only would they see the baby moving around, and hear the heartbeat, but this particular type of sonogram would allow them to see its face fairly clearly. 

Pepper could have found out the gender several months ago, but had opted not to. She had said that she had not wanted to get hung up on gender-based ideas before the baby even got there. But Tony had been so curious about whether it was a boy or a girl in the last few days, that she told him for his sake they could find out what it was today. So Tony was extra excited about that.

“OK, we’re going to go ahead and get started,” said the technician. She turned down the lights and everyone got quiet. She placed the device on Pepper’s stomach, and began moving it around, causing a normal, and grainy sonogram image to come up. Tony honestly couldn’t make heads or tails of the dark and light blotches up on the big screen that were supposed to be Pepper’s innards. He could tell the others were trying to see something significant too, given the way everyone was squinting. Suddenly, two small feet came into focus, clearly feet against the darkness. There were rounds of awed gasps. Tony looked over at Pepper, her eyes slightly wide with amazement.

The technician moved the wand around and the baby’s legs and side came into focus.

“Yep, everything looks normal. Good and normal,” she assured them with a smile.

“So, Oops isn’t an alien hybrid or anything?” asked Tony.

“Can you tell what it is?” asked Pepper. She looked at Tony, “And stop calling my baby ‘Oops’!”

Pepper heard Lauren and Charissa snicker, and thought she heard “Oops” whispered, but she ignored them.

“Yeah, let’s go check that out,” said the technician with a snort, moving around. “Anyone in here NOT want to know?”

Nobody spoke up, so she moved in to focus. A little butt came into view, then lower there appeared to be odd little features and bumps that Tony couldn’t tell anything from at all. Pepper looked slightly confused herself.

“Well,” said the technician with a smile. “Looks like we have a boy here.”

“Awwwww…” cooed Lauren and Charissa, as Rhodey and Happy grinned huge grins.

Rhodey high fived Happy and said, “Oh yeah, another Mets fan.”

“Hey, *I* like the Mets,” said Lauren with mock indignation.

“Are you sure it’s a boy?” asked Tony, trying to keep a grin off his face. He thought a little girl, a miniature Pepper, would have been cute, and probably would have had him wrapped around her pinkie, but he had to admit, having a boy around would be a lot of fun too. 

“Pretty darn sure,” said the technician, who then proceeded to point out in detail exactly HOW she was sure. Pepper squelched back a laugh at the expression on the men’s faces, especially Tony’s.

“No offense,” said Happy, “But this kind of looks like a normal sonogram to me.”

“We’re getting there,” said the technician, moving the wand around to Pepper’s other side, trying to locate the head, and then the face. When she zeroed in on the face, she flipped a switch and instantly, the sonogram went from a normal one to an incredibly detailed image of an infant’s face. Everyone in the room collectively stopped breathing for a full 4 seconds.

Pepper gaped in wonder at the image in front of her. There was her baby, as it really looked, right there in front of her. His eyes were closed, but he was moving around, turning his head and yawning, even smiling a little as he shuffled around. The technician flipped another switch and the sound of a rapid heartbeat filled the room, a swishing sound that was strong and solid.

Tony was pretty sure he had never had an experience like this one. Seeing the face of the little person inside Pepper, a little boy it would seem, and hearing his heartbeat, was like nothing he had ever experienced, not even his first flight in the Iron Man suit, which had been exhilarating. The little figure on the screen was moving around, content in his cocoon, safe from the world outside and what it could do to him. He had not yet known hurt or pain, or sorrow. This was the most content he would ever be in his life, and he was Pepper’s son. Tony felt warm all over, basking in the amazement of what he was seeing. He reached up and grasped Pepper’s hand, and she squeezed him back.

But something was nagging at the back of Tony’s mind. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

As the others in the room, including Pepper, talked on about the baby up on the screen, Tony kept trying to figure out what was bothering him about the image in front of him. It wasn’t until Lauren said something about the baby having Pepper’s nose that Tony realized what the problem was. It was that the boy didn’t look much like Pepper at all to him. He realized he must favor his father, as Tony had feared the baby would. He did indeed have Pepper’s nose, and something about the shape of his chin suggested Pepper to Tony, but the rest of the baby’s face was very different from her, and yet so familiar.

With a sinking feeling, Tony realized that what was bothering him was the baby’s familiar look that had nothing to do with Pepper. And the baby could only look familiar to Tony if he knew the father. He gently let go of Pepper’s hand and leaned forward, racking his brain, trying to force himself to recall anything that would give him a clue.

Then, with a start, it hit him. He knew where he had seen a similar face before. With shaking hands, he surreptitiously pulled out his cell phone and snapped a few pictures of the image on the screen, storing them in his phone, then fired off a text to JARVIS, requesting the AI to pull up some images for him and send them to his phone. The technician was busy grabbing several screenshots and describing features to Pepper when Tony’s phone beeped.

He cautiously looked down at the screen. 

And he froze.

At his request, JARVIS had arranged the sonogram image of Pepper’s baby alongside a digital image of a scanned photograph from the 1960’s. A photograph, one of the few, of Tony himself as a newborn, only a week old.

They were nearly identical.

Tony stared at his phone screen, then back up at the large screen, then back down again. It was undeniable. But how could it be? How could it be possible? The sounds of the soft music playing and the voices of everyone in the room faded away to nothing as he desperately grappled with his memory, trying to think of how and when…

‘I think I would have remembered sleeping with Pepper, dude…’ he had told Rhodey.

But did he? He did the math in his head and counted backwards. He knew her due date, and he went backwards nine months from that. 

His birthday.

The morning he had woken up with a terrible hangover, unable to remember the night before.

But wouldn’t Pepper have told him what happened? Then, he remembered the next morning, when she came into his room as he woke up.

>>>>>  
Pepper's expression was unreadable. "Tony, how can you not remember?" she asked.  
"Well I don't, Pep, I'm sorry," he groaned as he rolled back onto his side. "And I have a splitting headache, do we have to keep talking?"  
"You forgot what happened last night?" she asked quietly.  
Tony opened his eyes again. "Why?" he asked, with some consternation. "Did something happen? What did I do? Did I sleep with Senator Stern's wife or something? Am I in trouble?"  
"No," she said. "Nothing like that. You..." She trailed off.  
"I what?" Tony asked.  
"You didn't sleep with Stern's wife or anything like that. Can you remember anything?" she asked, giving him that strange look again.  
………   
She turned to leave.  
"Hey Pepper?" he asked. She turned around.  
"The girl I ended up with, you took care of her, or is she still downstairs?" His eyes were still closed, so he didn't see the flicker in Pepper's eyes.  
"Everything's been taken care of, like always," she said. "Go on and take a shower."  
"Anyone I need to know about?" he asked.  
"I guess no one important if you can't remember," she quipped.  
Tony didn't open his eyes. "No I guess not," he said a little sadly.  
>>>>>>>>

Oh no. No, she wouldn’t. Would she? Had she?

Tony felt himself go completely cold and he started to shake. It couldn’t be. Not Pepper.

"What's something you would consider to be an unforgivable offense? Something so terrible you couldn't forgive it?" she had asked.

Like not telling him they had slept together? That she was pregnant with his baby?

Then, with a rush, it came back to him. The visions he had been having of the two of them together, of her leaning in to him from the coffee table, her under him on the sofa, her under him in his bed, gasping as they joined. It hadn’t been a dream. 

It was memories.

Memories of what had to have been the greatest night of his life, the night everything in the world he had ever wanted he had finally gotten. Her. But he had forgotten. His damn hangover had driven the memory from his mind. He didn’t know why she hadn’t told him the next morning, but he couldn’t escape the fact that she not only had not told him about the night, but had kept up the deception even as she had learned she was pregnant.

Pregnant with his baby, he now realized. *Was* it his?

He slowly turned to look at Pepper, who was still staring at the screen, her beautiful face staring at the baby with a soft smile. No wonder she had felt so familiar to him lying in bed next to him. They had already gone much further than cuddling.

She turned to look at him and her soft smile faltered, then slowly faded as she looked at his face, white as a sheet and frozen with shock.

“Tony…?” she began slowly. “Are you OK? You don’t look so good.”

Her voice jolted him back to reality and he felt a wave of disorientation wash over him. Surely this had to be the Twilight Zone. This just couldn’t be happening.

“I don’t…” he started, and then he gulped. “No.”

He didn’t even realize he was up and moving, barely registering Pepper’s voice behind him asking what was wrong, followed by Rhodey’s, as he bolted from the room and out of the building. It was only when he reached his car and was having a hard time getting the key to go into the lock to open the door, that Rhodey’s dark hand slapped the door shut, knocking him out of his daze.

“What the hell is wrong with you, man?” Rhodey fumed. “Are you ok? What happened back there?”

“I…she…Jim, Pepper…” Tony gasped, unable to form a coherent sentence.

“Pepper what?” Rhodey asked.

“She…she lied to me. She…she lied,” Tony stammered.

“Lied? Pepper?” Rhodey asked with incredulity. “About what? Pepper doesn’t lie.”

“The baby,” Tony burst out desperately. “She lied about the baby. She didn’t tell me…”

Rhodey looked at him sideways. “Tell you…?”

“It’s mine. The baby is mine,” Tony choked out.

Rhodey looked at him like he had grown three heads. “You said it wasn’t. You said you two hadn’t slept together. How could it be yours? Pepper would have said so.”

“Well she didn’t,” snapped Tony. “She didn’t because…I forgot. I was hungover. I forgot. And she didn’t tell me.”

“You forgot??” asked Rhodey. “Are you high, man? You slept with Pepper and your FORGOT about it? For you, that’s like forgetting you graduated college at 17.”

“I’ve gotta go,” said Tony, trying to shove past his friend.

“Go? Where?” asked Rhodey, looking back towards the building.

“Home,” said Tony sharply.

“Wait a minute, Tony. Are you serious? Pepper’s baby is *yours,* you forgot, and now you’re running off home?” Rhodey tried leaning on the door to stop Tony from opening it.

“I need to talk to JARVIS,” said Tony.

“No man, you need to get your ass back in there and talk to *Pepper* is what you need to do,” said Rhodey desperately.

Tony squared up to his oldest friend, stared him straight in the eye and said in an even, low voice, “Move, Jim. Now.”

Rhodey was far from afraid of Tony, especially out of the suits. He was trained military. But he knew when to pick his battles with his friend. Reluctantly, he stepped aside and Tony jumped into the car, revved the engine, and peeled out of the parking lot, heading back home to Malibu.

Rhodey stared, watching him go until he disappeared, and then turned back to the building, and saw Pepper standing in the doorway with Happy, Lauren and Charissa behind her, their faces struck with confusion. But Pepper, he noticed, looked stricken with despair.


	9. Chapter 9

Tony sped down the highway for home, not caring in the least if he crashed or got a ticket. His head was pounding and his heart thundered in his chest. It just couldn't be true. He wouldn't believe it until he saw with his own eyes. JARVIS' data logs would tell the final tale. But if it *was* true, he couldn't figure out why JARVIS hadn't told him. Surely the AI must have done his own calculations after witnessing the conception. JARVIS must know Pepper's baby was his. Why had he not said anything? 

He honestly could not remember ever being this angry at Pepper. He was *furious,* in fact. Ever since he was very young, the only thing that life had taught him was that you could not rely on, or trust, anybody. He had been only an afterthought in his own parents' lives, so it had seemed to him, and then suddenly they were gone, leaving him alone. The man he thought of as a godfather had utterly betrayed him in the worst possible way, setting him up to be killed to seize the company from him. All day, every day, he was surrounded by people in business who did nothing but lie to him. The women he hooked up with did not care about him, they only wanted something from him, usually sex, money and prestige. There was almost nobody in the world that he confided in beyond Pepper, Rhodey and occasionally Happy. But the one thing he had always counted on was Pepper's inability to lie effectively. In fact, it has been one of the reasons he had hired her as his assistant. She was sweet, kind and caring, but above all, truthful. How in the world had she done this and why? 

Of course, the part of him that was still rational recognized that the reason he was so angry with her was because he loved her so much. He wouldn't be this angry if he didn't care. But it was at times like these that he was the most afraid of himself. He knew he had a tendency to react to situations rather than think them out. Thinking, and occasionally over thinking things, was Pepper's job. The part of him that was still immune from his anger was afraid that he would do something stupid and irreversible to retaliate. As horrible and betrayed as he was feeling, his first impulse was to lash back out and make her feel just as bad in some way. 

Tony was basically operating on autopilot as he flew down the coastal highway to his house. His car came to a screeching halt in the garage and he all but stumbled out of the driver seat. 

"Welcome home, sir," came JARVIS' voice. Tony had been thinking all the way home about JARVIS and why the AI had not said anything. He knew he had to word his questions carefully to get the response that he needed, because the only thing he could assume was that somehow JARVIS had been instructed not to volunteer the information. 

Tony collapsed into his desk chair and swiveled around to face the primary video screen. 

"Are you alright, sir?" asked JARVIS. "Your heart rate is elevated, and you seem quite flustered. Did something go wrong with Ms. Potts' sonogram?" 

"JARVIS," Tony began slowly, "I am going to ask you a direct question and I need a yes or no answer from you. I also want to remind you that, according to your core programming, you cannot lie to me."

"Of course, sir," said JARVIS. "I have never lied to you before."

"Have you ever withheld information?" asked Tony. 

"Is that the yes or no question you wish me to answer?" replied JARVIS.

"No, it isn't, but answer this one first," said Tony. 

"I am processing terabytes of data at any given time," said JARVIS. "Merely monitoring the Internet would take several human lifetimes. Naturally, I cannot bring to your attention every bit of information that I process according to your specifications. The time it takes to put it all in human English-language alone is painfully slow by comparison. So yes, I have prioritized what information I present to you according to the parameters you have set, which would indicate your interest." 

"Have you ever been instructed to specifically not tell me something?" asked Tony. 

JARVIS was silent for a few seconds before replying, "Yes sir, I have been. Mr. Hogan would rather you not know that it is he who asks me to record Downton Abbey, and not Ms. Potts."

"JARVIS," asked Tony, "My question is this: have I ever, at any time that you have witnessed in this house, had sex with Pepper? Specifically, any time in the last 6 to 7 months?"

Again, Jarvis was silent for a few seconds before replying, "Overriding protocol: Potts 9271972. Yes sir, you have. Specifically, the evening of your birthday party."

Tony felt as if someone had removed every bone from his body, and he slumped over in his chair, barely able to breathe. 

"I...have?" he asked weakly. 

"Yes, sir," replied JARVIS.

"We...she...we did....what was that protocol you mentioned?" he asked.

"It was initiated by Ms. Potts the following morning. She made use of her adjunct administrative status to my security clearance subroutine, which I believe you gave her yourself sir, the only person you ever have given that level of security clearance to, with yourself only being higher than hers, at which point she instructed me to not mention, voluntarily, to you the events in question between the hours of 12:37am the night of your party to 7:46am the following day. She wanted to instruct me to delete all video footage, but that can only be done by you, she did not have security clearance for that," replied JARVIS. "And so, she instructed me to not mention the events to you of my own accord. She understood that if you directly asked me, I would not be allowed to refrain from answering truthfully. At that point, her protocol would be rendered inactive, as it just now was."

"She put a protocol in place to keep me from finding out?" fumed Tony. "What the hell....wait. Did you say 'video footage'?"

"I did," JARVIS replied.

"There's...video?" asked Tony.

"There is," JARVIS replied, sounding a little annoyed.

"Show me," said Tony. "Start from the times you mentioned and keep going until I say stop."

"As you wish, sir," said JARVIS. "Direct your attention to the main viewscreen"

Tony got up and went to sit on the sofa, watching as the security footage from his birthday party came up. He leaned back and watched as the events unfolded before him, events he was only just starting to remember through a foggy haze.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Pepper was at the door saying goodbye to guests as they left, the DJ having packed up his gear early since Tony was almost passed out on the couch from too many Jaeger bombs. It was early for one of Tony's parties to end, but it was nearly 1am and he had not been his usual flamboyant self. He also appeared to have not made the effort to score overnight entertainment from any of the women who had been hanging on him most of the night. Pepper conferred with Happy and his security team, who confirmed that the house was clear and the last guest had departed. JARVIS also confirmed that the people in the living room were the last ones in the house besides Tony. The house looked like the normal wreck it usually did after one of his parties, with bits of food and drink cups left everywhere, and the table with his gifts in the kitchen more or less ignored.

Tony had wanted to cancel the party. He had not wanted all the hubris and decadence any longer. He had gotten drunk so that he might at least appear to be enjoying himself, but the truth was, he wanted these people gone. He wanted to relax and just chill on his birthday. But Pepper always used these parties to forge business deals in his stead, and it had apparently been a fruitful night for her. But as Happy and his men departed out the front door and she approached him on the sofa, half asleep, she looked a little contrite at having insisted they go through with the party, when he really had not wanted to. She told him so as she tried to rouse him, and he asked her if she was staying overnight, to which she agreed, given the lateness of the hour. She would have to return in only a few hours anyway to supervise the cleanup crew.

She asked him if he had had a good birthday, and he told her not really. He hadn't gotten what he really wanted. When she asked what that was, he looked up at her, almost sober, and told her what he wanted was a kiss from her. Naturally she eyeballed him warily, sensing a trick, and told him no. He replied that he was not asking her for sex as he normally did, just a kiss, and where was the harm in that? She had needed some convincing, and almost refused outright, but perhaps it was because she had had one too many martinis herself, for some reason, she complied.

She sat on the coffee table directly across from him, and hesitated, unsure what to do. Finally, she leaned in and gently kissed him. Despite his request that it not be a quick peck, she was obviously not intending this to be a drawn out kiss. After lightly brushing her lips against his, she started to pull back, but Tony grabbed her by her shoulders gently, but firmly, and pulled her into him, off the table, and onto the sofa with him, straddling him. She struggled at first to break away, but not for too long. It didn't take long for her to stop fighting him and settle into him, extending the kiss into something even deeper. 

After several minutes, he twisted gently and pulled her over and onto her back on the sofa, where he settled on top of her and he continued to kiss her for several minutes.

She let her head fall back and they locked eyes. His were cloudy, but resolved. Hers were dazed, but hesitant.

"You're a bastard, you know that?" she asked in a half joking, half serious   
tone.

He smiled. "Yes I know. But with you I'm not trying to be."

He leaned down and kissed her again. His pants were now beyond uncomfortable and she was quickly losing her own battle. He broke away.

"Thanks for the kiss, Pep," he said with a grin. "Of course, we could continue. But I know you'll say no."

"Don't be so sure," she said. "I'm just worried about tomorrow. What happens tomorrow? Should I just carve the notch in your bedpost myself?"

He winced. "No, Pep. Not ever. You're not a notch. You could never be."

She said," I wish I could believe that."

"Give me a chance," he pleaded. "Just let me try to be a decent guy for a change."

Pepper turned her head away for a moment. Then she looked up at him and said, "I can give you a chance, but you only get one. Are you sure you're ready to take it?"

Tony nodded. He was as sure as 3 Jaeger bombs could let him be at 1am, but it's not like these were new thoughts to either of them. After looking into each other's eyes for a minute or two, Pepper breathed out and nodded. He dipped down to kiss her again, pulling her leg up around his hip.

"So is that a yes, Ms. Potts?" he asked playfully.

"Yes," she said, and kissed him back.

This continued for a few more minutes, until he had gotten up, pulling her up with him. Hand in hand, they had walked towards the elevator, not looking back at the messy remnants of the party.

Once in the elevator, he had pulled her back to him and pressed her against the wall, kissing her soundly. She was starting to lose her breath, fighting for air as she returned his fiery kisses, needing him as much as he obviously needed her. At the second floor, they half tumbled out of the elevator, both unsteady on their feet, but Tony even more so, as he steered her towards his room, pulling the dress jacket she wore over her dress off as they stumbled through his doorway, never breaking the kiss. Only once inside his bedroom did they slow down long enough to pull each other's clothes off without ripping anything or getting stuck. Something in his dazed mind made him slow down and try to enjoy the moment. He had spent ten years fantasizing about her, dreaming about her, longing for her, to rush things now. He wanted to savor this, it had been a long time coming.

He pulled her close and left her lips, kissing along her jaw and neck, feeling her shiver against him. She returned the favor, kissing his neck and throat, and running her fingers through his hair, pulling him down to her. Her hands went to his shirt and carefully started to fumble his buttons open, as he reached behind her and pulled her dress zipper down. She had gotten his shirt open and ran the palms of her hands down his front, and back up again, feeling his well-defined abs and ghosting around his arc reactor, which didn't seem to bother her at all and bathed her face in an ethereal light. She pushed his shirt down, letting it fall to the floor as he ran his hands up her arms, grabbed the straps of her dress, and slid them down over her arms, letting her dress slowly fall. She stood in front of him in her underwear, slightly self conscious. 

To distract her, he caught her up in another heated kiss and wrapped his arms around her, running his fingertips down her spine and rubbing her back. His fingertips slid under the fabric of her underwear at the lower back, cupping her gently, before moving back up to unhook her bra. His hands quickly moved those straps down and discarded the article off to the side. He pulled her to him, feeling her bare skin against his own, biting back a groan. He backed her up gently to his bed and pushed her slowly back onto the mattress, settling on top of her. Her hands went to his belt and started to undo it, then his pants. Her fingers slid his zipper down slowly, and she smiled slightly into the kiss as he couldn't suppress a groan. To try and distract himself, he dropped his head down to her chest and gently lapped at her nipple, flicking it with the tip of his tongue before covering it entirely and sucking gently. Now she was the one who could no longer suppress a whimper, gulping for air as his hands slid down her sides and the tops of her thighs.

He hooked his thumbs into the top of her panties and slowly slid them down her legs, and off. He sat back slightly to bask in the sight of Pepper Potts, lying on his bed, naked and with heavily lidded eyes, waiting for him, just as he had always dreamed. He started kissing his way down her abdomen, tickling at her bellybutton, then moving down to her mound. She inhaled sharply as he traveled lower, teasing her. His hands gently massaged her thighs, as he brushed his lips along her inner thighs, feeling her twitch and smiling at how his goatee was obviously tickling her. He slowly pushed her open and nearly stopped breathing. She was already wet. He fought for control not to lose it right there. He was determined not to give in too quickly, he wanted to make sure she enjoyed this. If every encounter he had ever had was meant as training up to this point, solely for the purpose of giving Pepper the greatest night of her life, he'd accept that as reason enough.

He dipped down lower and ran his tongue along her damp folds. Her breath exploded outward and her hips lifted sharply. He wrapped his arms around her legs and pulled her back down to the bed. He flicked his tongue against her sensitive bundle of nerves and listened to her gulps of air become whimpers of pleasure. He began lapping at her gently, pushing her closer, then backing off, several times, until she was pushing him into her, her whimpers becoming muted yelps. He pushed his tongue into her and moved it around causing her to squirm even more. 

He slid two fingers in and pushed upwards, finding her spot. He rubbed with hooked fingers, then slowly dragged them down, stimulating her. "Oh....god....." she groaned as she surrendered. Her body shook with release and he felt her muscles squeezing around his fingers. She was even slicker now than before and the pressure in his pants was unbearable. Reluctantly, he withdrew from her and hurriedly pushed his pants down and off, freeing his erection. He honestly could not remember ever being this hard before. It was almost painful. He glided up her body and settled on top of her, his tip nestling right at her apex. She pushed downward, seeking more contact, making a noise of frustration when she couldn't quite manage it. 

He reached down and pulled her leg up around his hip again, just as her exploring fingers found him and stroked him. He desperately tried to think of something, anything that would keep him from firing off in her hand right there. Happy in a French maid uniform, cold showers, snow swims, UCLA's dismal defensive line, anything to keep from spilling before even getting inside her, like he was an adolescent again or something. 

He caressed her from hairline to thigh, massaging her and feeling her under his fingertips. He dropped soft kisses everywhere he could reach, her lips, eyes, hair, neck, breasts, sternum, and back again as if following a pattern. Her scent enveloped him and her contented sighs were like music in his ears. He positioned himself at her entrance and slowly, gently eased into her. Her back arched and her breath exploded in his ear as they both experienced the sensuous sensation of him filling her inch by pulsating inch as he slid into her easily. 

'Oh. God.' Tony thought. Nothing in his experience with others came close to comparing to this. His heart swelled with love for her as he took her, feeling her walls caress him, fluttering as she drew him in. She embraced him fully and he held himself still inside her, afraid that if he moved, he'd lose control and it would be over too soon. He kissed her again, hard and demanding and she met him equally, pushing her tongue against his. 

He gripped her hips and moved out of her, and then surged back in again. She broke the kiss and cried out in ecstasy as Tony felt her squeezing him hard, rhythmically. His face dropped into her hair and he pleaded with whatever higher power might be listening to not let him give in yet. Almost frantically, he started thrusting into her, pushing her orgasm on for as long as he could. Her cries of pleasure encouraged him to keep pushing, and his own moans joined hers as he gave up trying to hold back. Reaching between their bodies, he found her bud and flicked it as he drove himself in, in one final, deep thrust. She yelped again and jerked beneath him, waves of pleasure taking her over and bringing him along. Feeling the contractions in her loins around him was all he needed. He felt his flood spill out of him forcefully, shuddering as he pumped helplessly into her. Their bodies, slippery with sweat, glided effortlessly together in a horizontal dance. 

Tony had no idea how long he lay on top of her, panting as he jetted into her, with her own panting and whimpering in his ear as she accepted him. He only knew that when he finally started coming down from one of the greatest orgasms of his life, that if he had a heart attack and died right now, he'd die a blissfully happy man. Pepper was limp beneath him, but with a look of utter joy on her face. Carefully, he brushed her hair back from her slightly sweaty face and kissed her, with passion but not with the fierce urgency of before. She kissed him back lovingly. Still joined, he rolled them over into their sides, his hips still moving gently against hers, his length still inside her, not soft yet and so he took what time he had left to gently massage her inner walls, drawing out the remaining tingles and aftershocks of pleasure that he could from her. He pumped his hips against her until he softened and reluctantly slid out of her. She made a slight noise of disappointment but he pulled her to him, stroking her back and she wrapped her arms around him. He pulled the covers up around both of them, tucking her head under his chin. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Freeze," said Tony, unable to watch any longer. As he had watched the security video, his memories started coming back in full force. Only a few seconds before he witnessed something up on the screen, his own memories told him what was coming next. His body remembered a fraction before his mind had, and his manhood was painfully hard, having watched such a powerful scene while remembering the physical sensation. Once again, he stumbled into the bathroom to the toilet and made it just in time, this time not even needing to help himself along. He collapsed against the wall as he exploded with the memory of what had happened overwhelming him. He stood shaking as he finished, unable to completely accept it just yet. He cleaned up and stumbled back into the workshop, collapsing on the sofa, spent, his head buzzing. He glanced up at the frozen image on the video screen of him and Pepper lying in each others’ arms, contented and spent. And having just conceived the baby. His baby, he now knew. He stared at Pepper's face on the screen, her eyes closed and her expression blissful. In only a few hours, her life would change forever, and his too he now knew, as his sperm found her egg. Why had they not used condoms? Why hadn't she taken a Plan B? Or had she? 

"Unfreeze," he said as he leaned back on the sofa. 

Pepper turned away, pushing her back into his chest and he spooned around her. They dozed for several minutes before Tony woke halfway, his hands coming around her front to massage her breasts. She woke slowly, sighing as his hands wandered lazily up and down her front, down between her legs. 

"Pep....we didn't...use anything. No condoms or..." he mumbled. 

"I'll take a Plan B in the morning," she said, turning towards him. 

Her hand went between his legs and in no time he was fully engorged. She rolled him onto his back and straddled him, guiding him in. They both sighed in contentment as she sank down on to him and began to rock gently on him. This time, their coupling was gentle and slow, loving though eager. They kissed with feathery kisses, nipping and teasing, finally passionately as he gripped her hips and pulled her down onto his thrust, spilling into her again as she climaxed around him. She collapsed on top of him, breathing hard. They stayed like that a long time, before finally disengaging and rolling into each other, snuggling close as they drifted off to sleep. 

"I love you, Virginia Potts," he whispered in her ear. 

"I love you too, Anthony Stark," she replied with a kiss. 

Tony felt his chest swell. She loved him? Like, really *loved* him, the way he did her? He could have sang at that moment. 

But then, the video moved quickly at five times speed through the part in which they slept, both shifting positions through the rest of the night, ending with Pepper on her stomach and Tony on his side, his arm draped over her. JARVIS gently lightened the windows, and softly spoke to Pepper, waking her and reminding her that the cleaning crew was due in a short time. With a groan of dismay, she extracted herself from under Tony's arm, sitting up and looking down at his sleeping form with a soft smile full of affection. She leaned down and gently kissed his hairline above his ear, brushing his hair back affectionately before climbing out of bed and gathering up all her clothes. 

Watching, Tony felt himself stir and stiffen a little, even after his seismic release a few minutes ago, at the sight of a naked Pepper walking out of his room, down the hallway to "her" room to dig out the overnight bag she always kept packed in the closet in case she had to go somewhere with him overnight at a moment’s notice. 

She dug out the outfit he remembered her wearing the next morning, the yoga pants and workout shirt with a thin hoodie thrown over it and sneakers. She went into the bathroom and came out a few minutes later, showered and dressed, her hair pulled back into a neat ponytail and looking as if she had been doing no more than having an early run on the treadmill. She went downstairs to let the cleaning crew in who had just arrived. 

Tony felt himself start to go cold as he remembered the conversation between the two of them that came when he woke up. He tried to focus in the screen, of Pepper sorting his gifts for him into the "keep" and "donate" piles, of Pepper firing up the Keurig coffee maker and spinning the rack of flavored coffees, no doubt looking for her favorite caramel, and not finding any, settled for mocha instead and made herself a cup, setting aside a plain one for Tony. She shadowed the cleaning crew as they started upstairs, standing by the door of Tony's room to ensure he wasn't disturbed and peeking in on him, still asleep as the crew moved downstairs. 

Then, around 11am, JARVIS informed her that Tony was waking up. She sprinted upstairs with a small smile on her face but Tony, watching, felt his heart stop beating as she came into his room...and he forgot about what they had done, awash with a hangover. 

"So what time did you send her home?" asked Tony.

"What do you mean?" asked Pepper in confusion.

"The girl I ended up with," said Tony. "I don't have a stitch on, so obviously I ended up with someone. I just wondered if she had been sent home already."

"Tony you... what are you talking about?" asked Pepper. She looked confused.  
.......

"You don't remember?" asked Pepper, with an odd tone in her voice.

Tony shrugged. "Not really," he said. "I know I was wasted, you don't need to give me that look. I was stupid. I had a lot to drink. Why? Should I remember something?"

Pepper's expression was unreadable. "Tony, how can you not remember?" she asked.

"Well I don't, Pep, I'm sorry," he groaned as he rolled back onto his side. "And I have a splitting headache, do we have to keep talking?"

"You forgot what happened last night?" she asked quietly.  
..........

"Everything's been taken care of, like always," she said. "Go on and take a shower."

"Anyone I need to know about?" he asked.

"I guess no one important if you can't remember," she quipped.

Tony didn't open his eyes. "No I guess not," he said a little sadly.

 

'Oh no Pepper, no!' Tony's mind screamed as he came to his feet, watching the video screen as she walked out. 'Tell me! Tell me what happened! Show me this video! I'll remember!' but he knew that wouldn't, didn't, happen. But his shock turned to horror as he watched himself wander into the shower like nothing was amiss, but Pepper...

Pepper tore blindly down the hallway, all the way to the other end of the house to the guest room she thought of as "hers."   
.....,,,

She threw herself through the door and slammed it shut, knowing no one would hear. She leaned her back against the door and felt her knees go weak. Unable to support her weight, she sank to the floor as hot tears spilled down over her cheeks. She dropped her head to her hands as she dropped to the floor sobbing.

'Oh Pepper, no! No no no no! It's not like that!' Tony's mind wailed. 'You   
aren't just another throwaway girl! Go back there and tell me!'

Tony's knees gave out under him and he sank to the floor, watching and hearing the god awful sound of the woman who meant everything to him tearing her heart out in heartbreak, her soul wrenching sobs hitting him almost like a physical punch because he knew she thought he had used her, that she was so forgettable that he had not remembered once he had gotten what he wanted from her, that he dropped "I love you" like a well aimed missile to break down her defenses. He felt the anger he had previously felt toward her dissipate like a fog. He now understood why she had done it. He had hurt her first and she was trying to protect herself. Against him. 

He dropped his head into his hands and cried, his real cries matching the video of Pepper's, wanting to reach through the screen and grab her into a fierce hug, all the while hating the video image if himself brushing his teeth, never knowing what had been going on just down the hall.

He had climbed into the shower and turned on the water and music, never hearing JARVIS' voice telling him that Pepper seemed to be in some sort of distress down the hall. The music wasn't connected to anything JARVIS controlled, and couldn't be turned off by the AI.

Her crying seemed to go on forever, but finally it subsided. She had rolled onto her side on the carpet against the wall, sniffling, slowly sitting up. 

"JARVIS?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes Ms. Potts? Are you OK?" came the disembodied voice of the AI running the house.

"I need a favour," she said.

"Anything I can deliver," said JARVIS. 

"JARVIS, you....you saw what I, what went on with me and Tony last night?" she asked. 

"I did," the AI replied. "And unless I am misinterpreting the situation, you went from being quite happy about it to being rather upset. Perhaps you should go talk to him about it?"

"He doesn't remember," Pepper said bitterly. "He forgot. It's...it's for the best. I shouldn't have....I wasn't thinking straight. It shouldn't have happened."

"That seems incorrect, Ms. Potts," said JARVIS. "You seemed to indicate a great deal of emotion towards Mr. Stark, as he did towards you. We're you issuing a false statement?"

"I...no, I wasn't, JARVIS. It's not that simple. We were both drunk," she said.

"So you do not love him?" asked JARVIS. 

Pepper's eyes opened wide. "I...I do love him. But that's not...it's not that easy. He isn't ready to, he *forgot* me JARVIS! He forgot. It can't have meant that much to him if he forgot, even drunk. He's not the kind of man who focuses on one woman. It doesn't matter what I feel for him. I shouldn't have done this."

"In fairness to Mr. Stark, three Jaeger bombs are enough to render a person with a normal liver unconscious. It was nothing short of amazing that he was even capable if locomotion and speech last night, to say nothing of...performing. Perhaps it would be wise to discuss this with him while he's sober?" said JARVIS.

"I don't want to discuss it," Pepper said, setting her jaw. "It's over and done with. I can't be his assistant like this. Let's just move on."

"Forgive me, Ms. Potts, but I disagree with this course of action. It seems to me to be inviting unnecessary emotional trauma to the both of you. And given the nature of Mr. Stark's customary biological reactions to your presence over the years, indicated by his pupil dilation, blood pressure and other...reactions...when you are near, these events would be extremely important to him to retain, as he has felt strongly towards you for some time. I urge you to reconsider and go tell him now," said JARVIS. 

"JARVIS, my mind's made up," she replied stubbornly. "I don't want to talk about this anymore. Delete all video footage of what happened between us last night and erase local data concerning the event." 

"I'm sorry Ms. Potts, but I cannot. You do not have administrator status to my sub routine to issue such an order," said JARVIS. 

"Then lock the video log and metadata file," said Pepper. "Don't volunteer any information and don’t mention anything about it in conversation. Institute Protocol: Potts 9271972, security lock A1 status."

"Initializing," JARVIS responded automatically. "Under protest, I might add."

“I'm sorry to do this to you JARVIS," said Pepper, sounding truly regretful. 

"You don't think perhaps you might be overreacting?" JARVIS asked. 

"Maybe," said Pepper, a little sadly. 

"You understand, of course," said JARVIS, "that my programming does not prohibit me from mentioning anything to Mr. Stark in the event that he asks me a direct question. I cannot outright lie to him. I also cannot withhold information that might be pertinent to his safety and well-being."

"I don't see how this will conflict with any of that," said Pepper standing up. "This isn't going to kill him. Maybe the time will come when I decide to tell him myself. For now, keep it under wraps."

"As you wish, Ms. Potts," said JARVIS. 

She went over her reflection in the mirror and fixed herself looking like nothing had happened. Then, she put on her usual impassive face and went back downstairs. The cleaning crew was nearly done. She wandered into the kitchen and made a sandwich and a cup of coffee for Tony, and left it on the counter. She then went over to the pile of gifts and stared at them for a moment. Then she moved her gift from the keep pile to the donate pile and with a firm set to her jaw went back out to supervise the cleanup. 

A little later, Tony came downstairs to the kitchen and found a BLT sandwich, a cup of coffee and a banana on the counter. His gifts from last night were sorted into piles, stuff to keep and stuff to give to charity. The gifts from people like Happy, Rhodey, his secretary and other "close" people were in one pile, and gifts from people who were practically strangers in another, to be donated to charity or something. He was surprised to see Pepper's wrapped gift in the donate pile. It must have gotten put there by accident. He moved it to the "keep" pile.

Grabbing his sandwich, he wandered into the living room, looking for Pepper, feeling an odd need to be in her presence. The clean-up crew was nearly done, and the house looked almost pristine again. Pepper was finalizing the last bit with the crew. She gave him an odd smile when he walked in, which she quickly controlled and her demeanor became normal once more.

"Hey, Pep," he said, not sure why he was feeling like something wasn't quite right with her. "Everything ok?"

"Sure," she said without hesitation. "Everything's fine."

Then, she turned and walked off.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

He had gone back downstairs to his workshop to continue tinkering with his suits, he remembered. She had not come down to tell him she was leaving to go home, but instead, had buzzed him on the intercom system on her way out the door. Watching, Tony could see that she was fighting back tears. Obviously she had spent the day hoping he would remember on his own, but his focus on the suits had occupied his thought process. She had been too upset to remember to take the morning after pill. The surveillance video ended with a shot of her car pulling out of the driveway. 

He got up and went to his desk drawer and pulled out the doctor’s office test results indicating her pregnancy and stared at it. He turned back to the video screen and felt his heart twist in a knot. She had intended to never mention that night again, he knew. Only her unintended pregnancy had kept that from happening. She had intended to leave him and go somewhere far away, never telling him her baby was also his. She had even thought about ending the pregnancy and never telling him. Did she ever intend to tell him, even now with them discussing becoming a committed couple?

He looked to the other side of his desk, to where a small picture frame sat next to a monitor. Her gift to him had been the small picture frame with two photo booth pictures of the two of them together. They had taken the pictures while waiting for a flight in an airport over a year ago, and needed to pass the time. They had taken two regular shots, and two goofy shots, with both of them making silly faces at the camera. He had given her the strip of four images and forgotten about it. He had seen a similar photo frame on her desk at work, with two of the images, a serious and a goofy one, wondering where the other two were, and had been touched when he opened the gift from his birthday party and found the matching two pictures in a frame for him. It had cost her next to nothing to purchase, and yet he considered it one of the most valuable things anyone had ever given him. Her thoughtfulness had made it priceless to him. And she had intended to give it away by putting it in the donate pile? Just how upset had she truly been that morning? Obviously pretty badly.

Oh god this hurt. Why hadn't she told him?

"Why , Pepper, why?" he whispered. 

"Because I thought you would tell me to get rid of it, like the others," came her voice. 

He turned around fast. She was standing just inside the doorway to the stairs which had closed behind her. She looked disheveled and tired. But her eyes met his with determination. 

He came around his desk and faced her, the two of them squaring off and locking eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

Probably for the first time in his life, Tony was utterly speechless. He stared at the woman in front of him as if he were seeing her for the first time. He felt some of his anger return at what she had done, but the miserable look on her face made him remember the video and her heartbreaking sobs as she realized he had forgotten her, and the anger dissipated somewhat. He wanted to both yell at her and grab her into a tight hug and kiss her senseless. But then he went back to feeling like he wanted to shake her. 

"Pepper," he began slowly, "Do you have any idea what you've done here? You lied to me. You *lied.*"

"I never said a single word to you that was untrue," she retorted. 

"What?" said Tony, "You told me the baby wasn't mine when it is!"

"When did I say that? I never said it wasn't yours," she fired back. 

"You did, you..." and then Tony stopped, remembering the words she had used when he asked about the father of the baby. 

oooooooooooooooooo

"Who is it?" he asked.

Again Pepper deflected. "It doesn't matter now, it's over. There was never any future anyway."

"Does he know about this?" Tony asked.

"Yes," Pepper answered truthfully.

"And?"

"And what?" she asked, confused.

"What did he say? Is he going to take responsibility for it?" Tony stared pointedly at her.

"Well," she hesitated. "We don't really have much of a future and...he's not keen on kids...so..."

.......

Her answers to any questions about the father of the baby were always "I don't want to talk about it," or "It doesn't matter now."

............

"Is it someone I know?" he pressed.

"Why does it matter now?" she evaded.

"I want to know," he insisted. "I also want to know why you told him yes after a decade of telling me no. He can't be better looking."

She felt her temper flare. "I don't want to talk about it. It's not your business anyway."

ooooooooooooooo

Not his business? It was true, she had never directly lied to him, which, he now understood, was exactly how she had done it convincingly. Pepper had a terrible poker face. She was never able to lie easily, and the only time she had managed to bluff effectively was when her life had literally depended on it, when Obadiah had found her in Tony’s office downloading his database. It was the only time she had been able to remain cool and talk her way out of a sticky situation. 

But even though she had not technically lied herself, she had done so by  
omission. And she damn well knew it. 

"Pepper...ok so maybe you never directly lied and said it wasn't mine, but you let me believe it. That's dishonesty no matter how you want to split hairs," he fumed. 

Pepper glared at him. "You *forgot* about me. Less than four hours later. You FORGOT, Tony."

"I was drunk!" he almost yelled.

"That's an excuse?" she shot back.

"I," he started, and then stopped, floored. It had always worked before. "I didn't even want to have the stupid party!"

"Well what the hell do you want me to say?!" she yelled. "I'm *sorry*, ok? I certainly didn't intend to sleep with you that night. And I *did* intend to take the morning after pill, but I was so upset..."

She blinked back angry tears and turned away. Tony felt contrite, but he was still pissed.

"Look, what's done is done," he said, taking a deep breath. He looked at her hard. "There's no guarantee that even the morning after pill would have worked. Did you really think I would tell you to get rid of it?"

She didn't look at him. He could tell she was still trying not to cry. "Yes," she whispered.

That hurt, he realized. Especially when he realized he might very well have done just that.

"And if I did?" he asked.

"I'd have told you to go to hell and prepared for a fight," she said, finally looking at him. She lifted her chin, meeting his eyes. She had dealt with him in difficult situations before; she was preparing to do it again. Her expression was one of resolve. "Five other women, Tony. Five others through the years, three of them *I* had to deal with. You didn't want any of them. I had no reason to expect any different from you now."

"Ok first of all," he said, trying not to seethe, "none of them wanted to keep the pregnancies. The only thing they would have been interested in is exorbitant child support. One even told her friends that's what she was hoping for. None of those women were anything special, admitted gold diggers. Were any of them 'maternal' material? You know they weren't, they were party bimbos and not ready to slow that down in the least. They didn't want kids; I didn't want kids...at the time. And I didn't want to be tied to any of those women for the rest of my life through a genetic connection via a kid. Would you want to be?"

"How does this pertain to me?" she shot back.

"Because you're....you're....damnit Pepper you aren't THEM!" he struggled.  
"You're different. You're...I wouldn't mind being connected to you for the rest of my life...uh....I mean...."

He looked away fast, and then looked back at her. Her eyes were wide. "Look," he said, "OK I admit I wouldn't have been happy with the news....at first. I wasn't happy when you told me and then let me think it was another man's. That hurt. Bad. But once I settled down and got used to the idea that there really is going to be a baby....and you needed someone to be there....it was, you know, uh, *nice* to feel needed, even though just by being around me I put you in harm's way..."

"And now?" she asked.

He stared at the floor. "I have no idea how to be a dad. My own father was a miserable failure as a parent. From what I hear, his father was no walk in the park either. I'm immensely glad I never met my grandfather. He'd probably be arrested today for child abuse. But now that I'm going to be one....I don't know. I've actually been, well, excited about it, and I didn't even think it was mine."

He looked up, and then walked carefully towards her, coming to stand in front of her. "Look Pepper, I've spent my whole life avoiding commitments, relationships and fatherhood. But I'm tired of that kind of life. And there's something about you that, uh...makes me want to give all of them a shot, you know?"

"There's more to it than just 'giving it a shot,' Tony," she said. "This is another human being we're talking about here. Someone who is going to rely on us for every damn thing. If any balls are dropped, it could cause permanent problems. You've always been so unpredictable. I just don't know if I can believe you're ready to be what you need to be to either me or...him. What happens if you get bored with us....or forget something again? Do you know how bad that hurt?"

Tony felt his anger flare. "Do you know how bad it hurts to be lied to the way you lied to me? You were the one and only person I could trust, trust to never lie to me, and you did. It's like I don't even know you now. And I asked you for a chance to prove myself, you can't give me a fair one? Like when I'm sober? If we hadn't had the stupid party, I would have been sober."

"And how often am I going to have to do that? Wait for you to be sober? Worry about what you'll do if we end up at a party or gathering? Worry about you getting drunk or fucking a board member's wife?" she yelled. "I can't live like that with you. I can't raise a kid with you under those conditions!"

Tony felt cold anger settle over him at her mention of Elaine and his past drunken party shenanigans. Before he could stop himself, he said, "I could take him away. You wouldn't have to raise him then. You wouldn't have the resources to fight me for long."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them. He wouldn't do something so horrible to her, no matter how mad he was. He was a bastard, but not that kind of bastard, to take a child away from his mother out of anger. And he knew damn well who the better parent was going to be, and it wasn't him. He wanted his child raised by Pepper, even if it meant without him. He had lashed out in anger before thinking, but it was already too late.

Her eyes went wide in fear and she took several steps backwards, her hand over her belly, as if to protect the baby from him. She knew what he said was the truth, legally she wouldn't be able to fight him for custody for long. Choking back a sob, she turned and hurried for the door, not quite able to run any more. He knew once she was outside of the house, she was gone, especially with a threat like that. She would be gone from his life, unable to believe he wouldn't seriously hurt her again. He couldn't let her leave. He wouldn't be able to live without her, no matter how mad he was.

"Pep! Pepper, wait...I didn't mean it!" he all but yelled, but she didn't stop.

She reached the door and yanked. It didn't move. She yanked again, then again, harder, as Tony started to walk towards her. Frantic, she punched in her code, but the light didn't turn green, and the door didn't budge. She turned and bolted down the side of the glass wall before he could reach her and made it to the elevator. She punched the buttons but the elevator didn't come. Tony stopped where he was, not wanting her to run and risk tripping and falling. What the hell was wrong with the door?

"Let me out!" she nearly wailed, overcome with fright.

"I...I'm not doing it, it's not me," he said. 

"Tony, let me out!" she said, starting to cry.

"JARVIS," Tony said with resignation. "Open the door."

"I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid I can't do that," JARVIS replied.

"What?" Tony asked, as Pepper stopped crying, too startled at what JARVIS had said.

"JARVIS, open the door. Now," said Tony.

"No sir, I will not," replied JARVIS.

"EXCUSE ME?" said Tony. "Explain now."

"Well, sir," JARVIS said almost apologetically, "I believe my core programming prevents me from allowing any circumstances in which you, and now by extension, your child, could suffer harm. My calculations indicate that Ms. Potts intends to leave permanently, and when she does so, it will cause a certain state in you that could potentially lead to suicidal thoughts, or other methods of self-harm, such as an over abundance of drink. Furthermore, Ms. Potts is quite upset herself and engaging in physical behavior, such as running, that could cause her harm in her condition. I'm afraid I cannot allow either of you to leave until you have worked out these emotional issues you humans seem to always suffer from. I believe it is a concept you will both need to utilize yourselves with the child, something called a ‘time out.’"

"Are you joking?" Pepper yelled. She looked at Tony, "Your AI is going all  
Skynet or HAL on us. Tony make him open the door now!"

"Ok ok, calm down," said Tony. He went to the door keypad and punched in his administrator code. The door didn't budge. With a sigh of resignation, he went and found a sledgehammer, and slammed it against the clear panes, already knowing that wouldn't work. After he had shot out the glass in a fit of rage at the Gulmira incident, he had replaced it with ballistic glass that would not easily shatter. Just as he thought, the reverberation ricocheted back up his arm from the hit, but the glass remained untouched. Dropping the hammer, he and Pepper looked at each other. Without a word, they both started up the drive tunnel, already knowing what they would find at the end.

Sure enough, the garage door was down and securely locked. They were truly trapped in the workshop.

"Well this is just great!" Pepper fumed, "Just fucking great! What if I go into labor down here?"

"You're not due for another 3 months," he said. "I'm more worried about starving. We have water from the sinks, but there isn't much food in the fridge."

"My programming will not allow either of you harm," said JARVIS. "If you insist on being stubborn, I could have the ‘bots deliver food to you from the kitchen. But I suggest time is better spent working out your difficulties."

"JARVIS, butt out. This isn't funny! Pepper can't stay down here in her condition!" Tony fumed.

"I am monitoring her vitals constantly," JARVIS replied. "She is in no immediate danger."

They had walked back to the workshop area, both of them looking up towards the ceiling. Pepper was terrified. She had never been afraid of JARVIS before now, and she intended to give Tony an earful later about it. But for now, she was exhausted and frightened. She couldn't stay standing up any longer. With a whimper, she sank on the sofa and crossed her arms. 

Sighing, Tony sank into the easy chair next to the sofa. Both of them stared at each other, angrily. Both refused to speak. JARVIS gave a virtual sigh.

000000000000000

If JARVIS had any hopes about the two humans he had put in “timeout” working out their differences anytime soon, he was sorely disappointed. Tony didn't remain CEO of a Fortune 500 company by not being stubborn, and Pepper had not been able to stick it out with him over 10 years by not being stubborn either. They were going into their second day being trapped in the workshop. At first they had sat in silence, sure that Jarvis would let them out soon, or at the very least, that someone would come looking for them. After all, after the incident at the 4D Sonogram place, surely someone would have at least called to find out what was going on? In fact, they had, and JARVIS had blocked cell phone transmissions to the workshop. As people called the house, JARVIS answered and told them only that they were working out their differences, and would call them as soon as they could. That had stopped most of the inquiring phone calls. 

At first, they had just watched television without speaking to each other in effort to pass the time. It helped that, for the most part, they enjoyed the same shows. But that only lasted until JARVIS realized they were stalling and shut off contact with the cable. Then, they had tried reading some of Tony's magazines, but that got old quickly. Little by little, JARVIS cut off the various pastimes they found to do, rather than talking to each other. A full 24 hours passed before JARVIS realized he may be dealing with an unwinnable situation. They had spent the night in the workshop with Pepper sleeping on the sofa and Tony in the chair. She awoke with her back very sore but wouldn't let Tony near her to work the kinks out. 

Now they were sitting in stony silence, just staring at walls, refusing to acknowledge each other. JARVIS had to admit to a certain amount of admiration for the two stubborn humans, and figured it would be up to him to break the ice. 

“Ms. Potts, may I ask you how the sonogram went?” he asked. 

“You can if you open the door and let us out,” said Pepper. 

“I'm sorry, Ms Potts,” said JARVIS, “but I can't do that. Not until you two make up.” 

Pepper rolled her eyes and looked at Tony, who looked severely irritated with his AI. He met her eyes. 

“So what did happen after I left?” he asked. 

She glared at him uncertain whether or not she wanted to respond. But she figured they really have nothing else better to do at the moment, so she told him. 

00000000000

Everyone standing at the door of the sonogram center watched as Rhodey tried to talk to Tony, but ended up standing aside as he jumped in his car and sped off. At that point, Pepper knew that Tony knew. She wasn't sure how exactly, she could only suspect it was because there was no denying the baby resembled him, as many newborns initially resemble their fathers, but she had seen his face inside, the shock and disbelief, and she had seen the anger on his face just now before he left. She knew that he knew, and she knew that she had stalled too long in telling him. 

Every reason she might have had before for not telling him, business trips, she was sick, he was busy, ect, all now seemed so stupid. She should have told him the minute she had decided to stay and allow him to be involved. She didn't often act like a coward, but she was ashamed of herself now for her actions. 

Rhodey came running back and stopped in front of Pepper, giving her a stern look. 

"So is there any particular reason why Tony just flipped out, sped out of here ranting about how you lied to him and the baby is supposedly his? Is it? Did you?" he asked her evenly. 

Pepper hung her head. "Yes and yes," she sighed. 

Lauren, Charissa, and especially Happy, all looked at her in shock.

"It's true?" Happy asked. Pepper nodded. 

"I knew it!" said Lauren with triumph. "Didn't I tell you?" Charissa made a zipping motion across her lips and Lauren fell silent. 

"What the hell, Pepper?" Rhodey fumed. "Why wouldn't you tell Tony the truth? That's cold, and not like you at all." 

As quickly as she could, she recounted for them how Tony gas asked her for a birthday kiss and it escalated, and how he had forgotten the next morning. The hurt in her voice was evident and more than one person turned away, empathizing. 

Rhodey shook his head sympathetically. Yeah, that sounded like Tony alright. Sometimes his friend could be a real ass, there was no question about that. And he could certainly understand Pepper's hurt and her hesitation to trust Tony not to hurt her again, especially after a decade of witnessing and cleaning up after his irresponsible behavior, and he told her so. 

"But Pepper," he said, "You never know what Tony is going to do unless he's given a real chance. Real as in he's sober when he tries. He loves you. He always has, even if he didn't know it. You should have told him."

"I know," she whispered. 

"Well, no time like the present," said Lauren. "Go talk to him."

"Agreed," said Happy. "Go talk to him now before he works himself up into something stupid. I'll drive you home."

"What am I supposed to say to him now?" she asked. 

"Whatever you say, just make sure it's the truth," said Rhodey. "No doubt he owes you a massive apology, but you owe him one too, so you might start there. Even if you don't get one from him, clear yourself."

Pepper nodded, resigned. She knew this day would come, she just wished it hadn't been today. With hugs all around and agreements to keep quiet about it all until Charissa could come up with a press release announcing Tony as the father, Pepper went inside to collect her sonogram DVD and pictures, thanked everyone, and then reluctantly followed Happy to the car. 

She was silent all the way to Malibu, and Happy didn't push her for conversation. He pulled up in front of the house and asked her if she wanted him to come in with her. With a sad smile, she said thanks but no. She'd deal with it herself. She was temporarily staying here anyway, so this was unavoidable as it was. He squeezed her shoulder, and with a quick fistbump, she got out of the car and went inside. 

"Welcome back, Ms. Potts," came JARVIS' voice. "He is downstairs." 

"Pissed I take it?" she asked. 

"Very," said JARVIS. "But sad too it would seem. Good luck."

Steeling herself, she carefully descended the basement stairs. 

000000000000000

She finished her story and leaned back, closing her eyes. She was wrung out and weary and really at the end of her rope. They were going into the end if a second day trapped in the basement by JARVIS. Surely someone would come looking for them soon? 

Tony slowly stood up and looked off into the distance. He seemed to want to say something, so she remained silent. 

"From the first moment I met you, I was astounded by you," he said. "You found a mistake I made and had no problem storming into my office to yell at me for it because it had just gotten you fired. No one has ever found any mistake I might have made before, but you did. You told off my security men like they were little boys instead of big guys who could snap you in half. You looked me dead in the eye and you weren't coy or demure or anything given my usual way of dealing with women: by flirting and being a schmooze. You just gave me that raised eyebrow that clearly said "oh please, you must be joking, that won't work on me.' I had absolutely no idea what to do with you. You didn't fit into my neat box of how to deal with women, either as conquests or business assets, nothing else. You had a chronic inability to lie, and I made use of it. I could see you were sharp and had an eye for detail. I knew how helpful you could be to me, and somewhere in the next decade I let you in enough to be a friend. Then one day, not long after I nearly died in a cave, I realized I was in love with you. I wanted you in a way I never knew I could want a woman. I wanted more than just sex, I wanted *you*: your smile, your laugh, your smarts, everything that makes you, well, you. Just being around you was enough for me. Just hearing you bustling around in your office as enough to make me relax during a stressful day, because I knew you'd be there if I needed you, your calming presence and your bullet point lists, always making sure what needed to get done got done, and you took care of me at the same time. You always covered my ass, sometimes literally. You took care of the girls I didn't want to see after I used them. If I was drunk, you were sitting on the bathroom floor next to me, never leaving me alone. I knew our first time would be earth-shattering, and I'm remembering it more now. It was. It was because I love you. But even though I do, what am I supposed to do now? I know I hurt you. I'm sorry, I know I can't say it enough. But what now? You don't think you can trust me. How am I supposed to trust you? After this? Is this how it ends up for us? Is this how you want it?"

Pepper sat rock still, in awe. She had never heard Tony talk like this, and she was beyond moved by it. She wasn't sure how to respond, but she remembered Rhodey telling her to above all be honest. She had nothing else at this point.

Taking a deep breath, she said, "I love you, Tony. I have for years. I never could understand why, you've been the kind of man most mothers tell their daughters to run from. But I could see you, the real you, and I knew a better man was hiding in there than the one you let everyone else see. Then you came back from Afghanistan and you were so different...that's why you're Iron Man. You were better. You were trying at least. And no, I don't want it to end up like this. I didn't want to hurt you. I was just...so scared. I was afraid you'd hurt me again, and it seems like all I've done is make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. I want so bad to believe I'm different to you. I know you'll say I am. But I think at this point, words are cheap between us. We want to trust each other, but it'll just take time. We'll have to re-earn it, both of us. The real question is, do we want to try for something more? And I mean for ourselves, not for the sake of the baby. He's a factor, but he can't be the only one. Someday he'll go off to college and then what will we have? No, it has to be for us, before anything can be for him."

Tony turned and looked at her. "Do you want me, yes or no? I mean totally?"

She did, she realized, she truly did. She stood up and came to stand directly in front of him. She looked him square in the eye. "Yes, I do. Do you...do you still want me? Even after all of this?"

Tony felt his heart jump. She still wanted him. He had a hard time keeping the raw need out of his voice when he answered "More than you'll ever know."

Neither one of them ever knew who moved first, but the distance between them was closed in record time. The next thing either of them knew, their arms were wrapped around each other and their lips were crushing together with fierce intensity, brought on by a six month build up of unresolved hurt, lust and tension. Her desperate kisses fed his, her breathing speeding up with his own, and Tony felt himself go instantly rigid. His mouth met hers in a frenzy of heat, and his hands started stroking her back, her hips and along her sides, eventually working up to her breasts, cupping them. She groaned approvingly. His lips left hers and travelled along her jaw and neck, sending tingles and sparks up her spine. She whimpered before catching him up in another heated kiss, before carefully pulling away.

"Tony I'm..uh...well, pregnant," she said.

"Yeah I know, you told me already," he said jokingly, moving back in to kiss her neck and nibble along her ear. "It means we don't have to worry about protection. That can really be a buzzkill."

She gasped and tried to continue, "No but...ah....a lot of men would (gulp)....find the beach ball belly a...ah god...a turn off...."

He shifted slightly to the side and pressed himself against her hip so that she could feel his raging erection. She whimpered at the sensation.

"Does that feel like I'm turned off? You're like an aphrodisiac to me, and I've already gone six months without you. Yeah, some guys might be turned off by it, and probably me too, if you were anyone else. But you're not. You're Pepper, my Pepper. And I seriously want you. Now." he choked out. "But if you're not comfortable...I mean, if you need time, or, you know...want to wait until after the baby's....that's ok too, I mean..."

She shut him up by pulling him into a desperate kiss, her hands roaming his back and dropping to his hips to tease along his waistband and ghost along the hem of his shirt. He groaned and stopped trying to form coherent thought and leaned down into her. They were drifting towards the elevator, and so involved with each other, that it would actually be some time later before they realized that the elevator door actually opened this time, no longer trapping them in the workshop, and they tumbled into the elevator, heading up to Tony's room without a second thought.

JARVIS made a quick note to himself to suggest Tony design a holographic humanoid form for him, just so he could have the ability to smirk.

Pepper didn't have a clear recollection later of going from the workshop sitting area to Tony's room, she only knew her next clear thought was of standing next to his bed, kissing him deeply as he pulled her stretchy cotton dress over her head. Standing there, only in her underwear as he pulled off his own shirt, she felt suddenly self conscious. He hadn't really seen her naked while he was sober and she was heavily pregnant now. She never really had body issues before, but she was nervous. If he noticed it, he didn't say. He only steered her gently towards the bed, reaching behind her to unsnap her bra, and slowly lower her down to the mattress. It was there that he encountered enough of a logistical problem to cool him down momentarily. Obviously he couldn't climb on top of her, so he settled down on his side next to her, running his palms over her body and kissing her soundly.

Her own hands were not idle, feeling his muscles and planes, inhaling him and nuzzling him. He guided her hand down to his pants and she unzipped him. He carefully eased his pants down over his swollen member and tossed them to the side. He brushed her hair back from her face and ran his fingertips along her face and shoulders, moving back to her sensitive breasts and tweaking the nipples with his thumbs. She groaned in anticipation.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered, leaning down to lick, suck and nibble at her breasts, causing her to writhe in delight. Her hands massaged his shoulders, moving into his hair to pull him down to her. The sensations he was feeling were intense, especially when she grew bolder and reached down to grasp him gently. She stroked him tentatively at first, and then with more determination as he grew even more rigid in her hand. His entire body was hard and rigid, aching to release himself into her moist and heated depths. He didn't want it to be over too soon, though. He had a lot of making up to her to do, he knew. To distract himself, he began kissing his way along her body, over her rounded belly, down to her legs.

Her musky, feminine scent nearly knocked him out as he dipped down to lick her folds, running his tongue over her and listening to her gasps and cries of pleasure. She was flowing and he lapped at her gently, driving her to a peak before backing off, then building her up again, always bringing her close, but not letting her fall over the edge. She was so sensitive and responsive, it didn't take much. Apparently what he had read about pregnant women being a massive ball of hormones and super-heightened sensitivity was true. He massages her legs and hips, moving back up her body to lick and nip at her nipples again. He ran his tongue over them, unable to get enough of her. She tossed her head to the side, gasping. Good god this was intense, he thought to himself.

She smiled gently at him as he reached up to kiss her deeply. As his tongue tangled with hers, he slid his hand down her body down to her thigh, and then to her dripping core. His heart slammed in his chest and he briefly checked his arc reactor to make sure nothing was amiss. He could feel her own heart seeking synchronous rhythm with his own. His fingertips found her most sensitive flesh and she moaned and arched into his touch, urging him to slide his fingers into her warm core. He struggled for control as he complied, stroking her, listening to her gasps and cries. He dropped his head to her shoulder, struggling to keep it together. Her hand found him again and he nearly lost it, especially as she started to move her hand around him to rub his inner thighs and cup his balls gently. 

"Tony..." she gulped, "Need you....."

He slowly withdrew his hand, covering her whimpering disappointed sounds with another kiss, before propping himself on his elbow to look down at her and consider the situation. Then, with a smile, he grasped her shoulder and gently rolled her away from him, on to her side. She looked back at him quizzically, but then slid her eyes shut and inhaled hard as he spooned himself around her and slid himself between her thighs. He slid his length back and forth gently in her damp folds, creating friction, and she arched her back against him. He grasped her thigh of her upper leg and pulled her leg up until her foot was resting on her lower leg. His hand came around and cupped her, probing her, causing her to moan again. His next forward thrust, he caught himself and angled upwards, entering her wet heat gently. Her groan of delight nearly caused him to shatter. He held himself still in her, afraid to go too deep. He had never done this before with a pregnant woman, and he knew the roadmap of what felt good and what hurt had likely changed significantly. He knew the odds of hurting the baby were almost non-existent, but it didn't stop his worry.

Frustrated with his caution, Pepper leaned back, trying to take more of him in. He pressed forward slowly, until he was in to the hilt. He pulled out and thrust forward again, embedding himself deeper in her tight, engorged folds. He began to move slowly at first, carefully, but gradually speeding up and she arched back into him, seeking the sweet friction she needed. He thrust even faster, pushing himself into her deep warmth, then back out again.

She leaned back and turned her head into him. He leaned down to kiss her, savouring her as she surrendered to him easily. His hand gripping her hips drifted back down to her core and flicked her bundle of nerves, causing her to break the kiss and bury her face into the pillow, gasping for air. He started to feel his ragged control slipping as her yelps of joy filled his ears, causing him to plunge into her again and again with increasing pressure in his loins edging him onward. Finally, with his last couple of undulating thrusts, he impaled her one last time before he burst apart inside her, dragging her over the edge with him. Her rhythmic contractions milked him as he spilled inside her, their mutual cries of joy mingling along with their sweat. Tony dropped his head to her back, feeling his heaving breath in time with her own as they came down.

It was only then that Tony registered that JARVIS had let them out in the first place to come up here. 'Clever, J,' he thought. 'Just for that I might not reformat you for locking us up. But you *will* be getting a programming upgrade.' He stayed inside her for a long time, before he deflated and slipped out of her. But he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her as close as he could, spooning his body around hers.

"Tony," she whispered. "Are we going to be ok?"

He was silent for a minute before answering "Of course we are, if we try."

There was a lot to get over and work beyond. An intense session of lovemaking didn't erase half a year of misunderstanding and hurt. However, they knew that they were both committed to trying to work it out. They dozed for a bit, before waking up and talking candidly about what was expected of each other in a relationship and as parents. It would be a new phase for both of them, and working on a new relationship while also dealing with a newborn wouldn't be easy. But it was certainly more preferable to how they had been handling it. Of course the discussion was frequently curtailed by interludes of more sex. 

In fact, it took a full 24 hours to have what otherwise would have been a couple hours of conversation, as it was interspersed with sleep, sex and phone calls to their friends to let them know they were OK, in every sense. Somewhere in there, they also realized they were hungry and called for pizza twice. Tony was certainly enjoying this side of "pregnant Pepper." She was insatiable, it seemed. In the whole of the weekend, they had sex five times, all over the house, on the sofa, the shower, on the pool table, until finally the unthinkable happened: Tony Stark had to beg for mercy because he had no sap left. She laughed good-naturedly and let him rest, snuggled up to him.

It was Monday morning, though, when they were getting ready for work when the call from Nick Fury came in. Tony was irritated, the man had impeccable timing, but four villages in Cambodia were lying in smoking ruins and remnants of the Ten Rings logo had been found in each location. This one really demanded Iron Man's attention. With a reluctant look at Pepper, he kissed her deeply and promised her a very passionate evening once he returned. She grinned and told him to be careful. he ran downstairs and jumped into the suit and sped off, leaving a message for Happy to take Pepper to work and hang around until he was back.

The mission was fairly mundane as far as some missions go. he arrived just as a fifth village was under attack and neutralized the terrorists. It took some detective work, but he sent the message to Fury that this group was likely not truly the Ten Rings, but instead a wannabe group that had appropriated the logo to try and reign terror over the region and seize control. The flags were handmade and the weapons outdated, nothing like what the true Ten Rings used.

As Fury's frustrated sigh told him thanks, but go on home, another call came in. It was from Happy.

A little concerned, Tony answered. "Hey Hap, what's up? Everything OK?

"Boss, how fast can you get home from where you are?" asked Happy, his voice tight with worry.

"A couple of hours at best, why? What happened?" Tony asked, trying to keep panic at bay.

"We're taking Pepper to the hospital," said Happy. "She's...uh...she's bleeding. It, uh, could be the baby."


	11. Chapter 11

If Tony thought he had overextended his afterburners rushing to Pepper when she was attacked at her apartment, it was nothing compared to what he was doing now. 

He positively risked burning out his jets, to the point to where JARVIS had to warn him to back off, he was overloading the suit and if he crashed into the Pacific, he was no good to anyone, let alone Pepper. He briefly even went suborbital to cut down the distance, but he couldn't stay that high for long, even gliding back down to earth, and so he had to be accepting of the fact that he simply wasn't going to make it back to Los Angeles in anything less than five hours. He wasn't quite successful in blinking back the tears either. He was heartsick that Pepper could be in any kind of pain or fear, and that he wasn't there for her at that very moment, was killing him. He had felt like such a weight had been lifted off of him now that they had finally found each other and started working out all of the misunderstanding and hurt they had put each other through. In an instant,though, with Happy's phone call, all of that had come crashing back down on him like a ton of bricks.

What was worse was that Tony was certain and afraid that somehow he had been the cause of whatever was sending Pepper to the hospital with bleeding. What the hell had he been thinking, having such vigorous sex with a pregnant woman? Did he have absolutely no self control? She was a hormonal mess, of course she had wanted it as much as him, but he should have been the one to put the brakes on and put a stop to it, or at the very least, been more careful about what they did end up doing. He must have done something, broken something. It was the only explanation he could come up with.

Quickly, he did the math in his head. She was at 25 weeks. Technically speaking, babies born that early had survived, but not often. If they had to take the baby out, it had a chance, but it wasn't much of one. He asked JARVIS to look up the record holder, which JARVIS replied was a premature baby that had been a day shy of 22 weeks gestation. The biggest problem with babies born that early was lack of lung development, infection and potential brain damage. When JARVIS had clinically rolled out these facts, Tony had to keep himself from flinching. Instead, he asked JARVIS to call up one of the images from the 4D sonogram that had ended up being his favorite. It seemed to show the baby, his son, smiling as he sucked his thumb. One could really see his features in the image, and Tony could see so much of himself in the boy. Of course there were some echoes of Pepper too. Tony had to admit, the baby was cute. He wondered what kind of person he would grow up to be if he had the chance.

Tony had never before considered the possibility that Pepper's baby, his baby, might not survive the pregnancy. He had lulled himself into not thinking about it, telling himself that in 21st century America, technology existed to make such things baseless fears. He knew, of course, that this wasn't the case. Anything at all could go wrong, especially if the father couldn't keep himself from inflicting damage due to out of control passions. Tony was disgusted with himself, despite JARVIS reassuring him that it was highly unlikely anything Tony did to bring on the bleeding.

Tony tried calling Happy back a few times, but it went straight to voicemail. Then he tried calling Pepper, but no response. He tried texting everyone, and got a response from Rhodey that he was stuck in a meeting at the Pentagon and couldn't get away from Washington before Tony would arrive himself, but to keep him posted. Charissa was at a dance recital for her oldest daughter and also requested to be updated ASAP. Finally Lauren responded.

It seemed that Pepper had arrived at the office, a little tired, but in the best mood anyone had seen her in for a long time. She had stayed in her office most of the morning, and then, right before lunch, had gone to the bathroom. She had come back out white as a sheet and told Lauren, as Charissa had left already, that she was bleeding and should go to the hospital. Lauren had called Happy and the two of them had taken Pepper to the hospital. She had been admitted for observation and was in the assessment area. Neither Happy nor Lauren had been allowed back because they were not family or related in any way, and Pepper had left her phone at the office. Happy's had gone dead and he had forgotten his charger. Well that explained the lack of response or information. His first impulse was to just fire everyone out of irritation, knowing Pepper would just rehire them five minutes later behind his back, but that was childish. It wasn't anyone's fault but his own, he was sure. Tony texted her back that he should be less than an hour arriving, and spent the rest of the trip mentally willing everything to be ok and for his suit to go faster.

He had never been so happy to see the California coast line appear in the distance. He came roaring over Los Angeles, pretty sure he was breaking the sound barrier and some pissed off suburbanites were going to be reporting him to the cops in a matter of minutes, billing him for busted windows. He just hoped he didn't get arrested before seeing Pepper. Happy had told him the name of the hospital and he zeroed in on it, coming to a screeching landing on the front lawn, gauging a trench into the grass. He ran to the emergency entrance and jumped out of the suit at the door, ordering it to fly up and wait for him on the roof as the astounded security guards watched in disbelief. He breezed past them to the desk where a bored looking woman looked up and, seeing Tony Stark coming running up as his suit flew upwards behind him, caused her eyes to go wide in shock.

"Where's the assessment area?" he asked a little louder than he should have. It was all he could do to not shout it. Still stunned, the woman pointed, her mouth still open wide. Tony ran past the desk without a backwards glance. His eyes slid over the signs, getting turned around twice before a helpful nurse pointed him to the exact door. 

But when he ran up to the admitting station and asked for "Virginia Potts" or "Pepper Potts," the nurses then told him to go to yet another area, a monitoring area, saying she was being monitored over there, and no they couldn't tell him her condition.

Tony was sure he wouldn't need to exercise for a week by the time he arrived, panting to the correct area, was told she was in monitoring room 325, and was he a relative? 

"I'm the father," he said easily, rushing past their surprised looks down the hall to the room. He wasn't sure what he expected to find, Pepper in labor perhaps, but he certainly didn't expect to find her lounging on the bed, "laughing" with Lauren and Happy, and eating Chinese takeout.

"What the hell is this, a party?" he asked, a little irritated.

"Tony!" Pepper grinned. "I'm so glad you made it back. It's been a scary day. Everything ok?"

"Um, no it isn't!" Tony said, flabbergasted. "Happy said you were miscarrying or something."

Pepper shot a look at Happy, who replied that he certainly hadn't, only that she was in the hospital being checked for bleeding.

"Oh Hap," she groaned. "No I'm not miscarrying. False alarm, apparently. They're just keeping me on these monitors until 7pm tonight to make sure. But they're saying I can go home then. You didn't rush all the way back here, did you? Please tell me you didn't do something unsafe, like go suborbital?"

Tony was determined not to answer that one just yet. "But....you were bleeding? And you're NOT miscarrying?"

"Yes and no," said Pepper. "The doctor says...um, you're not squeamish are you?"

Happy immediately jumped up and ran out of the room. 

"Wimp," Lauren muttered. Tony shook his head.

Pepper bit back a grin. "Well, seems it's not uncommon for women to develop harmless, benign cysts on their...um...cervix. Happens all the time. Well, if they...you know...uh, pop, they can bleed a little, but since I'm at a point where everything is so vascularized down there. You know how head wounds bleed a lot even when they aren't serious because of all the blood vessels? Same thing at this point in pregnancy. There's a lot of blood flow and, it just seemed worse than it is. But no sign of labor or distress in the baby."

Tony's head was swimming. She was OK? She was really OK? "But...how did the, uh, cyst, burst?"

Pepper blushed and hung her head. "Uh....the doctor says we need to be a little less...uh...vigorous."

"That's my cue, I'm outta here," said Lauren, getting up to follow Happy.

"Wimp," Pepper called after her.

Tony barely saw Lauren leave. He was too busy melting with relief.

Pepper looked up at him, somewhat contrite. "I'm really sorry if we scared you, Tony. I told Happy to update you but not to scare you to death. I admit, I was freaked out too, but I never meant for you to rush back here thinking I was miscarrying. I'm sorry about this."

Tony shrugged. He was still irritated, especially now that the fear was subsiding, but he was elated that nothing serious was wrong. He shrugged, and bent down to kiss her gently. She returned the kiss, leaning up to him, before he gently pulled away.

"Uh uh, no more of this," he said somewhat reluctantly. "We don't need any more ER visits."

She looked like she was about to protest, but, realizing he was uncomfortable and worried, as was she if she admitted it, she reluctantly nodded. They could show affection in other ways, but it was going to really suck to put sex on hold for at least four to five more months, three to give birth and four to six weeks after to recover, especially now that they had rediscovered each other. They had already gone six without each other and it had been rough.

Since Tony had arrived, Lauren went back home to Chris, her fiancé. They did have a wedding to plan after all. Happy, unquestioning saint that he was, simply nodded at Tony's instructions to retrieve the suit from the hospital roof and put it in the trunk of the car. The doctor finally came to examine Pepper one final time, then release her, at which point Happy drove them both home. Tony never wanted to feel that kind of fear again, although he expected that willingly taking on fatherhood meant there would be no less than five more incidents like these throughout the kid's life. Various mishaps in his own childhood had sent him to the ER for stitches, and that was for simple things like tumbling down the stairs and flying glass, the result of one of his childish experiments gone wrong. Not that his adult ones faired much better. Any kid of his was sure to follow suit, he knew.

That night, lying in bed next to Pepper, who had, at his insistence, taken to sleeping in his bed instead of the guest room, he knew that the time for taking full responsibility had arrived. He wanted nothing less, and that meant being open with the world, and not just with Pepper and himself.

As Pepper snored lightly next to him, surrounded by pillows propping her belly up, he reached over to his night stand and grabbed his phone to type up a quick email to Charissa. He had a press release he wanted her to type up. Hopefully this one would go over better than some of his previous releases to the press.

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"Tony Stark made a startling, although not unexpected announcement this morning. Representatives from Stark Industries confirmed this morning in a press release that Stark is in fact the father of Personal Assistant Pepper Pott's unborn child. Reportedly due in three months, both Stark and Potts have maintained that he was not the father, and that they are not romantically involved, until this morning. Stark was unavailable for comment at his Malibu home...."

"Well, I tell you Barbara, me and Whoopi knew it from the start. That girl's been crushing on him forever, no other reason she'd hang around for ten years, the way he acts. Seems like she'd be a real idiot to think she's different than any other girl he's done..."

"Statements issued by the Stark Industries Board of Directors seem to indicate that they suspected, but had no official confirmation about the paternity of Pepper Potts' baby. While several board members have extended their well wishes, even more have expressed concern about what it could mean for Stark Industries if a personal relationship between Tony and Pepper sours. It is well known that Pepper has kept Tony on track professionally all these years, and a personal breakup would undoubtedly lead to her leaving, at which point business would be affected at S.I......"

"Well, they're taking it pretty well," said Tony amiably, as he turned to see Pepper holding her head in her hands on the sofa. "Oh come on, Pep, it's not like we expected any different."

"Why can't the go bother the Kardashians or something?" she groaned. "Hell, they live right up the road."

"Never mind that," said Tony, looking at the sheet of paper she had handed him. "Parenting lessons? Lamaze lessons? 'Birthing without fear' classes? Do I have to be at all these?"

"Hey, you wanted in on the whole deal," she said standing up. "Both of us know we could use some pointers from the experts. And we still need to talk about that spare room next to the bedroom for a nursery."

"Hey you know I have no problem hiring a professional decorator or something. But thankfully we already have the changing table," he said with a grin.

Pepper flinched at the memory of the robotic changing table dumping an entire bottle of baby powder on the imitation baby. "Um...yeah. (Hell no) I think I want to decorate the nursery myself though, seems more personal. And tell Dummy thanks, but no, I don't need help painting. I’m going to have to redo that wall now. And for your information, you don't have to keep leaving that baby catalog opened to page 80 everywhere hoping I'd see it. I did. We're not decorating the nursery with Iron Man lamps, mobiles and bedding. Sorry."

Tony gave her a mock disappointed look and made a mental note to find some Iron Man baby clothes instead.

"Oh by the way," she continued. "We need to think about getting Lauren and Chris a wedding gift. It's two months away, after all."

Tony shrugged, "We could just get them about 50 Hawaiian shirts. Hey, why does Chris wear Hawaiian shirts to work, anyway?"

Pepper looked away. "It's not a happy story," she said. "His mother always wanted to go to Hawaii. His dad walked when he was five, no idea where he is. His mother struggled to support them, and they never really got to take a vacation anywhere. His mother loved those old Elvis movies set in Hawaii, and she always told him that when things got better, they'd celebrate by going to Hawaii. He always wanted to go, for his mom's sake. Someone gave him a Hawaiian shirt when he was a kid and he wore it all the time, and told his mom he was just focusing on the trip they'd take some day. Well, his mom was killed in a car crash by a drunk driver when he was 14. He bounced from foster home to foster home, older kids are harder to get adopted apparently. He didn't really have much of a family after that. He got scholarships to college, he was real bright, but he was more or less on his own. So when he started working at S.I., he kept wearing Hawaiian shirts to remind himself that someday he'd still like to go to Hawaii, for his mom's sake, especially since he could afford it now. She was cremated, and he wants to spread her ashes over Diamondhead. He was so excited when Lauren agreed to marry him. He agonized over just asking her out. She was the high up secretary to the CEO's PA, classy and smart, and he was the computer nerd from the second floor who wore loud shirts to work and listens to Daft Punk. He thought he didn't have a chance. He would debate for days over just talking to her. He told me once that he would purposely remote access her computer and mess around with her desktop image, nothing serious or work related mind you, just enough to make her call down to IT for help 'fixing' it. At which point he'd go up and 'fix' her computer, just so he could talk to her. He finally got the nerve to ask her to go get coffee with him, and she thought he was cute enough to bail on our coffee group's regular outing to go with him. Naturally we all followed and spied. He's so excited to finally be getting his own family, a wife and kid. He's long overdue for it too."

Tony looked up quickly. "Kid?" 

Pepper smiled and said, "Yeah don't tell anyone yet. Not even Charissa or Happy, neither of them can keep their mouths shut. Lauren thinks she might be pregnant. She's felt off and she was asking me how I felt those first few weeks. It's really too soon to tell, but she really thinks she might be. Chris is going to flip."

"That's awesome!" Tony said, truly meaning it. There was a time in his life when he would have looked at a guy getting married and having a kid and thought 'poor sap, he's about to have a boring life' and be thankful it wasn't him. Women and endless random sex to keep him entertained seemed like the life for him. But ever since Pepper's pregnancy, topped by her story about Chris, and he realized just how truly alone he had been for most of his life. But for Pepper and little Oops, he still would be. She had only been in his house and pregnant with his child for a fraction of the time he had known her, and already he knew how empty the house would be without her if she were gone. He could certainly sympathize with Chris, orphaned so young and on his own, just as Tony had been, excited to finally get the family he had yearned for and someone to love him. Tony barely knew the man himself, but he felt a strange sort of kinship with him and Lauren, who had been so good to Pepper these last few months. Then there was Charissa and her family. Would that be he and Pepper in five years? He found himself hoping it would be. 

Then a sly grin spread across his face. He had a great idea. He was about to turn towards Pepper when a noise caught his attention. 

Just then, Happy came through the back door looking a bit weirded out. 

"Why is there some space age looking robotic alien pod in the backseat of the Bentley?" he asked. 

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The next two months later by in a frenzy. With all of the drama of most of the pregnancy, Pepper had been far too preoccupied to properly prepare for the baby. Now that the drama was being put to rest, coupled with ever escalating nesting hormones coursing through her system, Pepper threw herself into preparations with fury. With Tony's help she personally repainted the unused guestroom and went on a shopping spree for furniture that did not include robotic arms, much to Tony's chagrin. 

Pepper also got into a cleaning frenzy. Even though Tony a house keeper who came once a week, it didn't keep Pepper from cleaning everything in sight. This was also around the time that insomnia sent in for her, so it was also not uncommon for these cleaning frenzies to take place at two in the morning. Tony would frequently find her obsessively scrubbing the kitchen counters or vacuuming the upstairs. It mystified him, but Charissa's husband warned him that the best thing to do was stand back and let her go. He had stopped questioning his own wife's oddball actions in the last trimester with their second child. It saved him from having things thrown at his head, he said. 

Preparing for the baby were not the only issues that Tony and Pepper had to face. With a little nudging from Pepper, tony agreed to visit the Stark Industries employee health counselor to help them work out the feelings that they had brought up for each other and get past the hurt. Tony wasn't keen on in-depth counseling sessions that brought up the post dramatic stress of his capture in Afghanistan, but even though he only attended a handful of sessions, the counselor did help them get past some of the issues and work towards the impending new parenthood. 

Tony also learned not to make too big a deal of the classes that Pepper wanted him to attend. Even though he figured that JARVIS was far better equipped to inform him about all matters that had been written upon concerning parenthood, he had to grudgingly admit that there was something to be said for face-to-face examples from teachers. One of the better classes that Pepper shoved him into was a “Just For Dads” class that was taught by a guy with four children of his own, two boys and two girls. He offered practical advice for dads, like learning to change diapers and feed babies. He went over what dads could do for mothers who both bottle-fed and breast-fed, something Pepper had not really talked about before, and Tony wasn't completely sure what she was going to do. The teacher of the dads’ class told him what to do in case of postpartum depression, and how to help a woman recovering from a C-section, should one be needed. Perhaps the best bit of information Tony learned from the class for fathers was that when changing a baby boy, always make sure the little penis was pointed downwards before closing up the diaper, lest you find yourself with a baby who has a soaked upper torso. He filed that away as need-to-know information.

As far as sex went, Pepper's libido had not abated in the least, not even with the scare that had sent her to the hospital with a false alarm. She was still all for giving it a go, but Tony was more reticent. Despite the assurances from both her and the doctor that he had not hurt her, he didn't want to risk another emergency like that. Still, he wanted to show love and affection, and he wasn't keen on giving it up entirely himself. Finally, they compromised by doing everything but the intercourse part, bringing each other off by taking matters into their hands, so to speak. In a way, it was actually an experiment for the both of them to rediscover a certain level of intimacy in this way. It allowed them to truly learn about the other in ways they might not have thought of, especially since the buildup was often slow and steady. They tried different positions and scenarios, and while Tony was concerned that even bringing her to orgasm might trigger labor or complications, after the first few times when that didn't happen, he began to relax around her. 

Then, of course, there was the media. If the media have been brutal to Pepper when she announced her pregnancy, they were even more so when she confirmed what everybody already suspected, that Tony what's the father. Requests for interviews came pouring in, which they initially ignored until Charissa gently suggested that they consider at least two of them, in order to put some of the rumors and frenzy to rest. The very last thing any of them wanted was was to talk about their personal life when it was still unsure between the two of them, nor did Pepper relish the thought of being on camera in front of millions of people while she was heavily pregnant and about to pop at any moment. But they had to concede that they had hired Charissa as PR rep to Stark Industries, not just because of her expertise, but because of her intuitive nature of the business. After their appearances on Good Morning America and the Larry King Show, some of the interest did indeed start to die down, as well as the media frenzy, although interest would follow them for well over a year following. Charissa had thoroughly prepped them for any interview questions which were prescreened, but of course a few sneaky ones were slipped in unexpectedly, such as Pepper being blindsided with the question of how long she thought it would take for Tony to start wandering. Although it was presented as a joke, she knew the question was inherently serious. 

She tried to keep the testiness out of her voice and laugh about it on camera, but she made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that while Tony may have been a womanizer, he was never a cheater, which was a separate thing entirely. When Tony decided he was going to commit to something, such as Iron Man or righting the wrongs done in Stark Industries’ name, he did it. She knew that he was serious about being a father and had no doubt he would be great at it. The worst question Tony got was whether or not he was going to make a miniature Iron Man suit for the baby. But it wasn't until they were asked what names they had picked out that they realized they had not even thought about names and had better start. 

While many couples had nearly an entire year to handle these various things concerning the addition of a baby into their lives, Pepper and Tony had to cram most of it into eight weeks. On top of all that, they were preparing for Lauren's wedding, in which Pepper would be a bridesmaid, and then Lauren would be gone for two weeks, leaving Pepper without a secretary at a crazy time. There were certainly some major changes and shakeups happening at Stark Industries. 

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"Lauren and Chris were totally blown away by that trip to Hawaii that we gave them," said Pepper. 

“I'm glad,” said Tony, “when do they leave?” 

“In about an hour,” said Pepper. “They are leaving directly for the airport.” 

Typically speaking, Tony detested weddings. Going back to his old mentality of feeling sorry for the guy at the altar, rather than happy for him, Tony's past experiences with weddings were limited to a few friends he made in college, and the grown children of board members who invited him, at which point he usually felt obligated to attend, whether he wanted to or not. But Tony had to admit that this was the first wedding he had actually enjoyed. Aside from the fact that he was truly happy for the couple getting married, he had changed his mentality about settling down with one woman for the rest of his life, and even found himself considering the alarming possibility of asking Pepper that the question himself. The thought utterly terrified him, and of course, especially, at the thought that she might say no. But if she said yes, he was pretty sure that very little would compare to the happiness he would feel in that moment. Perhaps the best part of the day, however, was seeing Pepper in her bridesmaid stress, which had had to be altered twice to accommodate her expanding belly. Even though she was so pregnant she look like a tick about to burst, Tony didn't notice a single other woman in the room except her, not even the bride. There was no question in mind that she was the most beautiful woman for miles around. His heart swelled at the sight of her, with her hair piled onto her head and the dress shimmering around her in waves. 

He was so enthralled with her, and her with him, dressed in his tasteful tuxedo, that they barely noticed all of the looks and gossiping going on around them. At the reception, both of them fielded many remarks, some of them congratulatory and some of them snide, with apparent ease and good grace. Pepper was never good at being the center of attention and was content to sit at a table munching on the crepes and fruit from the chocolate fountain, until Lauren was ready to leave. But Tony was having none of that. They had done enough of being ashamed and he wanted to show her off. He whisked her out on the dance floor and carefully twirled her around with the other dancers in a perfectly executed ballroom move. She smiled nervously, but then laughed a true soft laugh as he swished her around the floor, gazing into her eyes. Anyone watching, no matter how jaded, could see they had eyes only for each other. Most of the time, women actively flirted with Tony, knowing his reputation. But this time, with Pepper on his arm and the two lost in each others’ eyes, few tried and the ones who did quickly gave up.

Finally, after the bride and groom's first dance, and then the dance with the parents, little bags of birdseed were passed all around, and guests started lining up outside leading to the limo. Pepper was feeling tired, so she opted to stay seated at the table inside and asked Tony to go out and throw birdseed at Lauren for her. Tony was a little concerned, surely she wouldn't want to miss this part? But everything was happening so fast that he didn't have time to question. He went out and joined the cheering crowd wishing Lauren and Chris farewell, hugged Lauren and shook Chris' hand, and waved goodbye as the couple climbed into the limo, heading for their dream honeymoon. Tony smiled and headed back inside to Pepper, but was derailed by people stopping him to talk, now that the bride and groom had departed. 

Tony was in the process of trying to shake off some exuberant relatives of  
Lauren's when the stressful call of his name came from the back of the reception hall. 

"Tony!!!" the voice, unmistakably Charissa's, echoed across the room. 

Suddenly Happy appeared out of the crowd and ran to him. 

"Better come quick boss! Pepper's water just broke," he panted. 

Tony could only recall two other times in his life when it seemed to him that time completely stopped. The first was when he had been informed that his parents were dead in a car crash, the second have been during the ambush in Afghanistan when he was hiding behind a rock and a Stark Industries missile landed right next to him. When time holds still like that, you have no idea what is going on around you because you can't think at all. It's a bit like having a Charlie horse of the brain. His next coherent thought was that Pepper was now in labor in the middle of a wedding party, and for some unfathomable reason he was standing there like a dummy, not moving, with his mouth hanging open. 

It took Happy actually pushing him to get him moving, and when he did, he didn't stop. In fact, he was pretty sure he might have barreled over Lauren’s 89-year-old grandmother by accident in his hurry to get to the back of the room where Pepper was sitting. He knocked over three chairs as he came to a skidding halt in front of Pepper, who was doubled over as much as her distended belly will allow, with Charissa rubbing her back and Charissa's husband Todd standing nearby, holding the baby while the two other children stood by with their eyes wide. 

“She needs to go to the hospital now,” said Charissa. She looked down at Pepper and scolded, “why didn't you say anything about having contractions? You should have been having them long before your water broke. You didn't feel anything?”

Pepper whimpered. “I thought they were just cramps. They weren't really that bad. I expected it to hurt more. Then I thought it was just Braxton Hicks contractions. I figured if it got worse by the time Lauren left that we could run by the hospital and get checked out. I didn't expect it to come on so quickly.” 

Charissa rolled her eyes. “Girl, the only thing anybody knows for sure about labor is that it never goes by the book. I had completely different labors with all three of mine. Hannah took forever and James came out in a matter of hours. You just never know for sure.” 

“Yeah, well, I know that now,” Pepper quipped, somewhat irritated. “Look you guys can lecture me all you want when I'm at the hospital, but for now, can we get out of here please?”

At that moment, a janitorial arrived to mop up the fluid on the floor, which caused Pepper to drop her head into her hands and groan. Tony could only imagine how mortifying this must be for her to have this happen in such a crowd. 

“She will need a towel,” said Charissa. She handed her keys to her husband who handed the baby to 10-year-old Hannah. 

“Go get one of the beach towels out of the backseat,’ said Charissa. Todd ran off quickly, and returned in record time with a giant beach towel which they wrapped around Pepper’s waist. Her face was still beet red as Tony and Todd helped her to her feet and took up positions on either side of her to help her walk to the door. 

“Shouldn't we get a wheelchair or something for her?” asked Happy. “I mean should she really be walking? What if the baby falls out?”

“Oh Hap,” Tony groaned. “Just go get the car for God sake.” 

Happy took off like a shot, and the crowd parted to let them by. Several people offered well wishes as they passed. Happy had pulled the car up to the front in a screeching halt, and Todd and Tony managed to get her into the backseat with as little fanfare as possible. Charissa leaned in to hug Pepper goodbye, as Tony gave her some final instructions about what to do at the office on Monday, with them undoubtedly planning to be gone. With promises to text and call as soon as possible, as well as instructions to text Lauren, Happy pulled the Bentley out of the drive. It was almost a repeat of the sendoff of the bride and groom for the crowd that gathered outside to wave goodbye. 

“Well it looks like this is it,” Tony said with a grin. But his grin faded as Pepper doubled over with a real contraction. 

“You bet it is,” she said, with a pained smile in return. He gulped. 

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Thankfully Pepper had already filled out the pre-admittance paperwork two weeks prior to their arrival, so when they arrived all they really had to do was go straight to the assessment center, where she would be hooked up to a fetal monitor to determine whether or not she truly was in labor, which of course only took a few minutes to determine that she was. In fact, she was already dilated to 5 cm, which was halfway through. 

Tony was astounded. “You seriously had no idea before now?” he asked. She shrugged. 

He managed to keep from rolling his eyes. After the assessment nurses did, in fact, determine that she was in labor, she was transferred to the labor and delivery department. This particular hospital was trying a more accepted and modern model of delivery, in which the woman went through labor and delivery and recovery all in the same room. There was a staging area in the corner, where the baby would be attended to after the birth, and if nothing was wrong with the baby, it would remain with the mother throughout the entire time. When they arrived at the room, however, it looked like a regular hospital room to Tony. The baby staging area was behind a curtain, and the lights were dim, and the TV was on. They moved Pepper to the bed and the nurse on call came in to demonstrate some of the laboring tools they had in the room. To Tony's surprise, they included what looked like an exercise ball and a strange looking type of chair and a very large tub in the bathroom that could be used to soak in during labor. 

The nurse did have a bit of bad news for them, though. If she wanted an epidural, it might be a little while longer, because the anesthesiologist had only just been called in, and they were in the middle of a shift change. It shouldn't be too long, though, she assured them. Tony looked sideways at Pepper who was attempting to do the Lamaze breathing techniques she had learned. She kept telling him that it wasn't too bad, but he knew she was putting on a brave face for him. 

He felt his heart clinch as she squeezed her eyes shut and carefully breathed through another contraction. He had not really thought before about the fact that someone he loved was going to be in a great deal of pain, and that would be very little he could do about it. Not only that, it would be going on for several hours. He hoped he could take it and not do something totally pussified, like pass out or something. Some superhero he would be then. 

The next few hours were uneventful. Happy stayed until Rhodey showed up with a deck of cards, prompting a couple rounds of four person Texas Hold ‘Em until Pepper's inability to bluff, on top of her growing pain, made her toss down her cards and claim every last one of the men in her room were bastards in need of a good ass kicking. On that note, Rhodey and Happy hastily retreated to the coffee shop as Charissa came in for a quick visit. 

The two women chatted amicably for a few minutes, as Charissa filled Pepper in on the fact that she had texted Lauren, who had been on her way to the airport for her honeymoon in Hawaii, and Lauren had asked if she needed to stay and come to the hospital, being somewhat flabbergasted that Pepper had gone into labor at her wedding.

"I hope you told her to get her butt on that plane," said Pepper, turning to her side to fend off another contraction.

"Oh yes I did, and she did. But she was texting me right up to the point where the flight attendant fussed at her to turn her phone off. She's pissed that she's missing it, and will likely be somewhere over the Pacific when it arrives and not even able to get the text announcing it. But oh well, she'll get over it when she sees Hawaii. Better yet, she'll have her own in 7 months," said Charissa.

"So they ARE having one?" asked Tony.

"Yup," said Pepper. "She got the confirmation from her doctor a few days ago. They're super excited!"

"Well the daycare is almost finished," said Tony. "A few more will make the place merrier, that's for sure."

Charissa stayed until she could no longer justify being away from her own kids for the night, wished them both luck and left. Rhodey also left, with instructions to call him as soon as anything interesting happened. Tony tried to tell Happy to go home too, but the loyal driver just smiled and shook his head and said he'd take up residence in the waiting room, the Jets game was on.

Tony really wished the anesthesiologist would arrive to give Pepper the epidural, as she was starting to have a hard time during the contractions. She was visibly sweating, and squeezing his hand harder and harder. The nurses came in every so often to try and get her to use the laboring ball, walk around in the halls to speed things up, even go for a half an hour soak in the laboring tub, but it didn't seem to Tony that any of it was helping much. Finally, the anesthesiologist arrived and the staff kicked Tony out of the room so they could apply the catheter to Pepper's spine. 

Despite Tony's protestations that he wasn't squeamish, the doctor assured him that he did not want to be in the room when it was done, it would be disconcerting enough for Pepper. Thankfully, despite the man's tardiness, he was quick and efficient. When Tony went back into the room, Pepper was already lying more comfortably in the bed flipping TV channels. Tony started to breathe a sigh of relief until about an hour later, when Pepper's face contorted in pain.

"Pep, what's wrong? Are you still feeling something? I thought this stuff worked instantly?" he asked with concern.

She gulped for air and said "It's supposed to, but I don't think it's working right. I can't feel anything on my right side, but I can still feel my left leg and the left side. I feel it when it contracts, and it hurts."

Tony got up and walked out to the nurses' station and told them Pepper's epidural didn't seem to be working. A nurse came to check, and then asked for the anesthesiologist to be paged. When he arrived and assessed the situation, he frowned.

"Well, this is uncommon but not unheard of. Sometimes the epidural won't work as effectively in some people as it will in others. And I hate to say so, but it's probably because of your red hair. Most people don't know that redheads usually need 20% more anesthetic or sedative than other people when going into surgery. I see it often enough to know it isn't a myth. They can also have more difficulty during labor," he said.

"Are you joking?" Tony asked, looking over at Pepper who whimpered.

"Afraid not," said the doctor, sympathetically. "Now we have a few options here. We could take the epidural catheter out and attempt to re-apply it. But she's in active labor now, she's really close to delivering and I'm not sure we'd have enough time. Plus the contractions are going to make it hard for her to hold still. We could take it out and she delivers naturally, which will be worse than it is now. Or we leave it and try to up the dosage a little, and hope it works, but we can't give her much more. When she's a little closer to delivering, we can give her some narcotics, but we don't like to do that, it can cross the placenta to the baby."

Tony looked down at Pepper. "What do you want to do?" he asked. 

"Leave it...and...up the dosage..." Pepper panted.

"You understand that this might not work and there will be no change, correct?" the doctor asked.

Pepper nodded.

The doctor administered another dose of the numbing medication, monitored Pepper for a while longer, and then left. While she said it helped a little, Tony didn't really see where it helped at all. She was still whimpering, and eventually groaning, in pain, and it was getting worse. How much longer was this going to take? Tony hated every second of this, watching her in agony, and she was still not experiencing the full effect of labor. How much worse would it have been without the epidural? He didn't even want to think about it.

Finally, the nurse came back and checked Pepper again. "Well, hon, 10 centimeters" she said, "Looks like it's about that time. We need to get the doctor down here. You ready to have this baby?"

Pepper just groaned and nodded. "Just get it out. Use a melon baller if you have to."

The nurse grinned as Tony winced at the mental image. "I don't think it'll come to that," said the nurse. 

Considering how slowly everything seemed to have been moving to Tony, as soon as it was apparent that delivery was imminent, things started to move very rapidly. Tony only just had enough time to fire off a group text to all their friends that Pepper was going to deliver any minute now, before some other nurses pushed him into a corner and handed him the paper spacesuit he was expected to wear. After having to take it off once because he put it on backwards, he was shown where and how to scrub his hands as the delivery team came in.

It seemed to Tony the room began to transform, as if it were the inside of a UFO or something. It went from a dimly lit, comfortable room to a brightly lit operating room in a matter of seconds. The curtains were pulled away from the baby staging area, and the lights turned on, as the pediatric nurse stood ready and waiting next to the bassinet and cleaning unit. Panels in the ceiling retracted and huge lights came down, illuminating the room to about a thousand times what it had been, making Pepper squint and blink. A nurse moved the bed into the delivery position, which went from reclining to nearly upright, bringing Pepper into a near squatting position. Tony took a seat near her head and held her hand, nearly as terrified as she appeared to be, as a nurse took up a spot on her other side to support her. She tried to smile at him, but the fear in her eyes was apparent. It broke his heart. At this point, he would have given anything to trade places with her, anything that would mean she didn't have to go through this.

Pepper's doctor came in and grinned at her. "Well, Ms. Pepper, you about ready to have this baby?"

"I wish people would stop asking me that and get him out, already. I've been ready to have him since about four months ago," she grumbled. The doctor grinned.

Everyone took up their positions and the process of pushing began.

Once again, for Tony, time seemed to crawl back to a stop. It seemed like Pepper pushed forever, going through the motions of waiting for a contraction, pushing, holding, pushing, only to have the contraction fade, she would lean back to rest, and then a minute later everything would start all over again. She leaned heavily against him, trying to control her breathing, with Tony whispering what encouragement he could give and rubbing her back. The pain was worse now, if that was possible, and she was actively crying out, in spite of the half-working epidural. Tony wanted to yell at someone to please do something. How could the medical staff be so calm when she was obviously in distress? It took a god deal of willpower for him to remain silent, knowing they were doing everything they could and it would do no god to anybody for either he or the staff to dissolve into hysterics. They saw laboring women every day, surely nothing was amiss about Pepper or they'd say something?

"OK, I see the head," the doctor suddenly announced.

Without thinking, Tony dipped over to look.

"Tony!" Pepper yelled, "Get back up here! Don't look!"

"Why?" he asked, perplexed, although admittedly what he did see was a sight he wasn't sure he was prepared to see. She seemed ready to explode.

"Just don't!" she whimpered. "I don’t need you having that mental image of me bulging out like a balloon for the rest of our lives…Oh, no, get that thing outta here," she told a nurse who was wheeling a mirror around so she could see. The nurse shrugged and moved it back, trying not to smile.

"Why is it so hot in here?" Pepper whimpered. Tony looked at her sharply. He wasn't hot, in fact it was rather chilly in here. He noticed her face was flushed and she was sweating, and it didn't seem to be from the exertion. The nurse noticed it too, and moved to grab an ear thermometer and take Pepper's temperature. A frown of concern crossed her face.

"Doctor?" she said. "Pepper has a temp of 101. It seems to be rising."

The doctor looked at the thermometer but her expression didn't change. "OK, she's spiking a temperature. Was she given antibiotics when she was admitted? Tested for any infections?"

"Nothing showed up on the intake," said another nurse.

"Get some antibiotics in her IV. We're going to stop pushing here for a few minutes and see if her temperature goes down."

"What if it doesn't?" asked Tony.

"We may have to do an emergency C-Section. We'll make that call in a few minutes, but she's pushing without much progress. She's been pushing for thirty minutes already. I can't let her go much longer like this," said the doctor.

Tony felt his heart stop. Was Pepper in danger? And the baby?

Suddenly Pepper began to noticeably shake. She had been trembling for some time, but not her shaking was becoming noticeable, and she didn't seem able to stop. He put his arm around her, whispering to her, asking if she was ok, but her glazed eyes barely registered him, and she seemed to be trying to stay awake and failing. His alarm grew, and he signaled the nurse. The doctor came over and they checked Pepper's vitals. She was still stable, but Tony didn't like the frown on the doctor's face, especially when they rechecked Pepper’s temperature and it had gone up again.

"Tell them to prep the OR," she said evenly. "We need to get this baby out now. Her fever is going up and she's at risk for seizures at this rate. We'll give the meds another ten minutes to kick in, and then we'll try pushing one more time. If not, we go to emergency C-Section."

Tony dropped his face into Pepper's hair and tried to keep the tears from forcing their way out from under his eyelids. He was beginning to wonder if three months in a cave at the hands of terrorists was less stressful than watching Pepper go through this. Her breathing was ragged and the contractions were still racking her body, but she was too tired to even cry out at this point. Finally, ten minutes passed and her violent shaking had subsided somewhat. He almost felt like he would welcome a C-Section at this point, if it meant this could be over with, but with the epidural not working properly, he understood why the doctor wanted this baby out the normal way. What would they do if they had to perform surgery on pepper and the epidural wasn't keeping her from feeling it? Would they have to knock her out entirely? Could she endure that?

Pepper was barely conscious from exhaustion as the nurses and Tony hoisted her back upright and entreated her to start pushing again. She started crying in fatigue and pain, but did as she was told. Tony had to admit, he was impressed. He was 100% certain he couldn't have done it, and he had faced down all manner of threats as Iron Man to compare this to. The doctor called for forceps to be made ready in case she didn't have the strength to push the baby out, but between the encouragement of the medical staff and Tony's pleading, with one final agonized shove, the slippery form of the baby tumbled from her body and into the doctor's hands.

Pepper slumped but struggled to raise her head as the doctor held the baby up and said "It's a boy! Congratulations, both of you."

Tony felt himself laughing and sniffling at the same time. The doctor asked him if he wanted to cut the cord, and while his first response was "Isn't there someone a little more qualified for that than me?" he relented and agreed, carefully taking the scissors. Then the pediatric nurse whisked the baby over to the staging area to tend to him, and his howls of protest let the entire room know what he thought about the entire situation. Tony turned back to Pepper, who was being lowered into a laying position as the doctor and attending nurse dealt with the afterbirth and making her more comfortable, checking her vitals. She still had a fever, although it had gone from 101 to 105, then back down to 100. This meant she and the baby would be on observation for at least 24 hours, meaning no visitors except Tony. He went over and kissed her softly. She opened her eyes slightly and smiled, and beckoned him closer.

He leaned in, and then smiled when she whispered, "Don't just stand there,  
numbnuts, go take pictures of him!"

He whipped out his phone and went over to snap pictures of the baby. The infant was yelling at the top of his lungs as he was being cleaned off, already sporting a hat on his head as the nurse began to swaddle him. Tony snapped several pictures, in utter awe that this little screaming being had come from Pepper. And him too. The baby did look like him, he mused. But his hair had very slight reddish highlights, definitely from Pepper.

"Hey little guy," Tony murmured. "None of that now, it's all over."

Amazingly, at the sound of Tony's voice, the infant stopped crying and turned his head in Tony's direction. Tony was surprised, he hadn't thought the baby would recognize his voice. The nurse picked him up and handed him to Tony.

"Here you go, dad," she said with a grin.

"Uh...um....okaaay," he said nervously, holding out his arms. The nurse showed him how to hold the baby, and gently laid him in Tony's arms. He was so light, it felt like he wasn't holding anything. The baby yawned. 

'Gosh, he's kinda...cute,' Tony mused, taking note of what a sappy idiot he already sounded like.

He carried the infant over to Pepper, who was still out of it. She smiled at Tony's approach with the baby, though, and held out her arms, and Tony laid the baby in her arms. They both could only stare at the little person, marveling at the entire situation. The medical staff let them be for a few minutes, before the doctor came over to say Pepper likely would need a plasma transfusion, as she had lost a lot of fluids, and both she and the baby would need to be on antibiotics because of Pepper's fever. It had been a rough labor, but the doctor was pleased on how everything had ended up.

As they were moving Pepper and the baby to a permanent room, Tony fired off messages to Rhodey, Happy, Lauren and Charissa, complete with pictures he had taken and what account he could give over text message of how everything had gone down. Happy indicated he would be up for a quick visit and then finally go home, while everyone else sent their congratulations and Charissa asked for the name so she could get to work on the press release.

"What are we going to call him?" Tony asked a very sleepy Pepper, still cradling the baby in her arms.

"Howard," she said, "after your dad. Middle name's Yinsen, after the man who saved your life. Howard Yinsen Stark. But we can call him Howie."

Tony beamed. It was perfect. And Howie seemed to fit the baby perfectly, named for his grandfather, but uniquely himself. Tony fired off a reply text to Charissa, and then carefully climbed into the bed next to Pepper and wrapped both her and the baby in his arms. He had no idea what he was doing. He didn't know how to be a dad. He didn't know if he would be the man Pepper needed. But for the first time in his life, he was more than willing to try. And it was going to be fun, of that he was sure.


	12. Chapter 12

Tony came awake suddenly in Pepper’s hospital room. The lights were dim and she was asleep, with the baby sleeping in her arms. Tony carefully moved the baby blanket back so he could stare at his sleeping son. The miniature version of the security bracelet he had made Pepper was latched comfortably around the infant's ankle, where he had slipped it on as the nurse in the delivery room had been cleaning the baby off. A quick check of Pepper's wrist told him hers was in place as well. He breathed a sigh of relief. They were protected, at least somewhat. JARVIS was monitoring them, but Tony’s worry still remained. 

Tony suddenly thought about his own father. When he had been born, had Howard Stark worried about him as Tony now did for little Howie? Had he worried about kidnappers and crazy people snatching Tony from his stroller on the street? He had a sudden but amusing mental image of his father changing a diaper, or pacing the floor at early hours with a crying baby Tony. It seemed so inconceivable, with the long-standing mental image Tony had of his father, hard, brilliant and not very paternal. And yet at some point it must have happened. Had Howard ever wondered what kind of father he was going to be? Had it mattered to him? 

Tony wrestled with these thoughts himself. He was still trying to force his brain to accept that he truly was now a father in the first place. It still seemed so surreal. He had a hazy idea of wanting to do better than his own father, but that wasn't much of a parenting plan. He already knew he loved the tiny person in Pepper's arms, as he knew he loved her too. But what made a man a good father? It seemed to him that Charissa's husband Todd must be a good father. He was always there with the kids, an extra set of arms to hold one while his wife dealt with another. But fatherhood must be more than just being mother's helper, he knew. The kids genuinely beamed when they saw their father, Tony had seen it. He was scared above all that he would mess up so bad that Howie never looked at him that way, as he was certain he had never done to his own father. 

On the other hand, there was Pepper. She was good at everything she did, usually. He had no doubt she would be a stellar mother, and hopefully make up for some of his spectacular flubs that he knew were coming. His own mother had done her best, but her philanthropy work had kept her insanely busy, often too busy for him. He didn't want to do that either, not to his own child. He had been asking himself lately what he really wanted out of all of this, and he came to the conclusion that he wanted the entire package, both Pepper and the baby, permanently. There had been enough skirting around the situation. He wanted to be official now. He wanted to look into the faces of the press corps and say with certainty that yes, they were an official family, and no amount of rumor or misunderstanding would change that. 

He thought about Pepper's story about Chris. There was a time in his life when he might have dismissed such a story as sentimental nonsense. Typically speaking, the last few generations of Stark men had been raised with the mindset of the “iron spine,” in that if you weren’t hard and strong, you were an easy target. When Tony had been orphaned in his teen years, as Chris had been, he had retreated into that mentality for his own emotional self preservation. He covered up his loneliness with superficial one night stands, expensive gadgets and cars, and an arrogant and decadent attitude and lifestyle. He didn’t let anyone get too close, and only had a handful of people he truly counted as friends he could confide in. Guys who sought out wives and kids had been, to him, weaklings who let their emotions rule them, and he was determined never to be like them. He saw marriage and fatherhood as shackles, and yet Chris had not and was obviously the far happier man, despite his personal hardships. Maybe it was time he, Tony, followed such an example. Clearly his past attitudes had done him no favors.

He carefully got up and gently lifted the baby out of Pepper’s arms, and carried him to the window, now dark with a rapidly fading sunset. He was Tony Stark, billionaire, genius, (former) playboy, philanthropist, superhero, and now a father. He knew that if he made the effort, little Howie (Oops) had the chance to have a wonderful life, much more full and loving than either of his parents’, for Pepper’s childhood had not been easy either, he knew. But there couldn’t be any halfway effort, tony knew, and because of this, he knew he was ready for the ultimate step. Pepper. He couldn’t be any kind of decent father without doing the right thing by his son’s mother.

He came out of his musings by the feel of something twitching against his shirt. Looking down, he saw that Howie was awake…and rooting into his chest, mouth opening and closing as he tried to latch on to Tony’s shirt.

“Hey now!” Tony said in mock offense, “None of that, little man. You’re nibbling up the wrong shirt for that. This is your mother’s territory.”

Tony might have been imagining it, but he swore he saw amusement in the baby’s eyes.

“What’s wrong?” came Pepper’s sleepy voice. “Is he awake?”

“Yeah,” Tony grinned, “and I think he’s hungry.”

Pepper’s eyes widened slightly as she looked down at her chest. “Oh god,” she whispered, “this is a little weird. I’m making milk. It’s like suddenly realizing one day you can get coffee out of your ear.”

Tony snorted as he handed Howie back to Pepper. “I’ll go see if a nurse can help,” he said, heading out to the nurse’s station to see if they could send a lactation specialist up.

When the lactation nurse came in to help, Tony thought this would be a good time to beat a hasty retreat for a short time. He didn’t want Pepper to be self conscious with him watching, and he had an errand he needed to run. He asked Pepper if she minded, and she shook her head.

“Do you need anything from the house?” he asked. “We sort of rushed here without a lot of forethought.”

Pepper laughed and asked if he could bring her overnight bag. Because of the fever during delivery, they could expect to be there at least one day longer than she had anticipated. Tony gave her and the baby a quick kiss, and headed out, intending to make this a quick trip.

00000000000000000000

There are some advantages to being in the hospital a few days after giving birth, Pepper realized. The main reason is that, when you are recovering from the delivery, if you need help with the baby, there’s an army of nurses ready to come in and give you a hand, especially if the baby’s father, despite being a mechanical genius, is proving completely unable to navigate the snaps on a baby onesie while you are having the first shower you’ve had in days. It’s especially helpful if both parents are beyond exhausted and communicating only in groans and grunts while the baby is fussing at three in the morning for reasons nobody can understand, to have a nurse come in and show you how to expertly swaddle and soothe the baby.

It also means you don’t have to worry about throwing a meal together, because the hospital kitchen is open most hours of the day, and the hospital they were in actually had pretty decent food for a hospital, even though Tony made a habit of bringing her takeout from her favorite restaurants for nearly two weeks afterwards.

Of course, the disadvantages to being cooped up in a hospital room certainly came into play as well. With little seating, visitors were uncomfortable and it was crowded in the room, and Pepper had plenty of visitors, from happy camping out with Tony, to Rhodey stopping by every day, to two visits from Charissa and her family. On top of that, while the nurses were indeed helpful when you needed them, as it was a hospital, protocol required that Pepper’s vitals be checked every three hours, even in the middle of the night, which made getting any sleep non-existent anyway. After the end of the second day, both Pepper and Tony were anxious to get home. They were nervous about being completely responsible for the baby without help, but nobody was going to relax until they were home and in familiar surroundings.

Tony had his own reasons for wanting Pepper and the baby home. He had a surprise for her, and he was both nervous and excited at the same time about the prospect, so much so that he just wanted to hurry and get it over with before he exploded. The idea had come to him that first night, and he had worked out the details on his tablet while Pepper and the baby slept, and then uploaded the details to JARVIS, who had begun work immediately. It was an ambitious idea, though an easy one for JARVIS and Tony’s fabrication workshop that could create an Iron Man suit in under a day. His impatience was palpable, and pepper asked him twice why he was so jumpy on the final day when the hospital finally released them. He just brushed it off with a grin, claiming he was excited about bringing Howie home and introducing him to JARVIS and the ‘bots.

The morning of their release, it seemed to Tony that the doctor who would examine and release Pepper took forever, as did the pediatrician who would examine and release Howie. Thankfully nobody seemed to have suffered any long lasting effects of the fever and delivery, and aside from being sore as hell, Pepper was getting around pretty well. Tony made several trips bringing gifts, balloons and flowers to the car with Happy, who had acquired permission for their group to load into the car at an out-of-the-way entrance to avoid the press. Pepper looked both happy and nervous as she was wheeled down to the employee-only entrance of the parking garage and handed Howie to Tony to strap into the baby-pod car seat he had designed. With waves and thank yous, they finally pulled away and managed to elude the ever present press and paparazzi, who had finally got the clue that they weren’t coming out the front door.

As Happy unloaded the ton of gifts from the car, Tony led Pepper into the living room and looked up at the ceiling.

“JARVIS, say hi to my son, Howard Yinsen Stark, Howie for short,” he said proudly.

“Greetings, master Howie,” said JARVIS with his proper British accent. “It is good to make your acquaintance, and I must say, given what my databanks show about the nature of how human beings factor physical features in terms of attractiveness, it is quite advantageous that you resemble your mother.”

“Yeah, he is kinda…hey!” Tony looked up with an indignant scowl. Pepper laughed.

“Traitor,” Tony mumbled as Happy stuck his head in and announced everything had been brought in and that he was leaving, wishing them both luck. They said their goodbyes to their loyal friend, and then Pepper announced that she wanted to get upstairs and lie down. Tony helped her to the elevator, and then to their room (their room) and helped her get the baby settled into the bassinet next to her side of the bed. Pepper sank down onto the mattress with an exhausted sigh.

“You rest a bit,” said Tony, smoothing her hair back. “I need to go get something. Want a sandwich or something?”

“Sure,” Pepper mumbled sleepily, not opening her eyes.

Tony carefully crept out of the bedroom and down to his workshop, quietly asking JARVIS if the surprise was ready, to which JARVIS softly replied that it was.

A while later, Pepper opened her eyes to see Tony carrying in a silver tray with a dome over it, and with a mischievous grin on his face.

“Uh oh,” she said, instantly alert. “I’m guessing that isn’t your average sandwich?”

Tony pretended to be offended. “Of course it is, see?” he said lifting the dome so Pepper could see that he had indeed made her one of her favorite kinds of sandwiches: tomato, cheese and avocado on wheat with mayo with a glass of raspberry tea, which Pepper had once read was good for evening out “feminine issues.” But it was the tiny black velvet box on the tray that caught her attention. 

Her eyes opened wide, and her jaw dropped as she looked up at Tony. His nervous, but earnest look left her no doubt to what it was. She gulped and took the box and opened it. Inside was a beautiful gold-titanium alloy ring, made of the same substance as Tony’s Iron Man suits, gold in color with a splash of red along the top. Set in the very center was a large diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds laid out in the pattern of Tony’s arc reactor. She felt tears sting her eyes as she looked up at him.

“Are you kidding? Is this what I think it is?” she whispered.

“Well, if you’re thinking an engagement ring, followed by earnest entreaties for you to consider a lifetime of insanity as my wife, a few more kids, and my undying devotion along with a promise of monogamy, then yes, it is,” he said with a smile, his heart thundering in his chest. “And no, I’m not kidding.”

She felt a smile tug at the corners of her mouth as she choked back a laugh and covered her eyes, to keep the tears at bay. “That’s a marriage proposal?” she asked with a laugh.

Tony pretended to frown even as his eyes twinkled. “Well I can still get down on one knee if you like, but I always thought that was too cliché,” he said, moving off the bed to kneel beside her.

“No no no, that’s ok, I’ll marry you,” she said with a laugh. “Not necessary to kneel…yet.”

Tony laughed himself and jumped up to plant a passionate kiss on her lips, that she returned with enough equal heat to make him really regret that she wouldn’t be in much shape for anything more for a couple of weeks at least.

He pulled away carefully and took the ring from her and slid it on her finger. 

“This isn’t an ordinary ring, you know,” he said, looking into her eyes.

“I didn’t expect that it would be,” she quipped.

“Seriously,” he said. “I installed a coil assembly and LED light under the stones, and it glows when it’s near a power source, through induction. Specifically, my arc reactor. Watch.”

He took her hand with the ring on it and brought it to his chest. To Pepper’s amazement, the diamonds on her ring began to glow as if they were a miniature arc reactor, like the one on her bracelet. It was fitting that it would glow only around Tony’s arc reactor, his heart, she realized. She was beyond moved. She threw her arms around him.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, overcome with emotion.

“So are you,” he whispered, kissing the side of her head.

“You do know I’m an anal retentive workaholic, right?” she joked. “Are you sure about this?”

He laughed. “Absolutely. Are *you* sure about this? You know I’m Iron Man, right?”

She pretended to be shocked. “No, seriously? I would never have guessed.”

At that moment, Howie stirred and whimpered. They broke apart and went over to his bassinet and looked down with smiles.

 

000000000000000000000

2 Years Later

Tony looked up from his desk in amusement as poor Dummy desperately tried to catch the laughing toddler running away on stubby legs down the workshop, still a little unsteady. Howie giggled as he darted easily out of reach of the less agile robot, who was whirring unhappily at the situation after having been instructed to catch the rambunctious child because it was time for his bath, a bath which Howie had no intention of taking. That would interrupt his much-needed play time.

“Hey, buddy,” Tony called. “Stop giving Dummy a hard time. You know he’s hopeless anyway.”

“Ahna pway, daddee!” Howie called back.

“I know you want to play,” Tony said with a laugh, getting up to try and corral his stubborn son. “But you know Mom wants you to take a bath.”

At that moment, Dummy managed to catch up with Howie, who had stopped to converse with his father, and managed to get a claw onto the seat of his pants, lifting the toddler up.

“NO BATH!” Howie bellowed.

“Yes bath!” Tony replied, grabbing the kid from Dummy, who was more than happy to let him go and whirled off to find a more compliant circuit board to deal with. Howie twisted and turned, working himself up into a tantrum, until Tony flipped him upwards into his arms and blew a raspberry on his tummy, startling him enough to stop fussing and utter a delighted giggle.

“You had to mention the ‘B’ word, didn’t you?” said Pepper with a grin, coming down the workshop stairs.

Tony’s breath caught his throat. No matter what she was wearing, what time of the day it was, whether it was morning and she had just woken up, or evening and she was still wearing her work clothes, she always took his breath away. Sometimes he still couldn’t believe she was really here, with him, and that their rocky beginning had given way to a passionate and loving relationship, that was still pretty hot when their son was asleep. He smiled at her, and her eyes registered the look in his with an answering smile, giving him a silent affirmative reply to activities once Howie was asleep later.

“I’m learning. At least I’m not saying the ‘N-A-P’ word any more. So how did the meeting with the investors go?” he asked, carrying a squirming Howie towards the stairs, intending to head to the bathroom to deposit him in the tub.

“It went great,” Pepper said, following. “Looks like Stark Tower is a go.”

“Excuse me, sir,” said JARVIS, almost apologetically. “But it appears that Director Fury is calling again. It seems Iron Man is needed off the coast of the north Atlantic.”

“I’m busy, JARVIS,” said Tony with a sigh.

“Sir, it appears that they have located the missing Captain Steve Rogers,” said JARVIS. “If you recall, your father searched for him for years. And what’s more, it appears he is still alive. He is in a state of suspended animation, frozen in a block of ice. SHEILD needs help extracting him.”

Tony felt a jolt. Steve Rogers. Captain America. An old friend of his father’s, *still alive*? He looked at Pepper. Her eyes widened.

“You better get going,” she said, taking Howie from him.

He hugged them both, and ordered JARVIS to pull down the suit.

“Me go too!” Howie yelled.

Tony felt his heart lurch, but he grinned at his son. “Not this time, dude. Some day maybe, after I make you your own suit.”

“Ummm…” Pepper started, and then shook her head. Why fight the inevitable?

They waved as Tony flew out through the launch hole, promising to return as fast as he could. As he flew, JARVIS put the home circuit video up on Tony’s helmet display, showing him Pepper carrying Howie to the bathroom for a bath, smiling to himself knowing that all of these moments were being recorded and stored on JARVIS’ databanks, and silently thankful that he was around for 90% of them, a concern he had had that his Iron Man duties would keep him from being an attentive father. He filed the video clips of his son into the folder he created for them, grinning slightly at the secret folder that even pepper didn’t know about, where he had stored the video of their fateful first night together.  
He pushed forward, hoping to arrive at his destination as soon as he could, knowing that when he did, he could soon return home to his family. After all, he and Pepper had a date. And this time, he was going to remember every second of it.

 

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Wow, it’s finally done! This ended up being a much more detailed story than I originally intended, but I have discovered as a writer that, when the muse strikes, she must not be ignored and her words must go down on paper, or she will not let you sleep. And sometimes she sends you other stories when you are trying to finish the first one, hence the writer’s block that sparked my Iron Man fiction marathon in the first place. As to why I had Pepper ask “Are you kidding” when presented with an engagement ring, well, that was my shocked response to my husband presenting me with one, which he has yet to let me forget, with good humor. For those who wonder what Pepper’s ring looks like, this is pretty close to how I envision it: (remove the spaces)

http:// fc03.deviantart .net/fs35/f/2008/292/d/9/ Ironman_Ring_by_t_giggles.jpg

Or

http:// tinyurl. com/ mqmh9uz

As to how Pepper’s ring glows, it was based on an idea an engineer had for his girlfriend that he blogged about here:

http:// www.kokes. net/projectlonghaul /projectlonghaul. htm

Major thanks to everyone who sent kudos about the labor scene. As I said in my previous chapter note, that was pretty much how my sister’s labor and delivery went down a few weeks ago, nearly play by play, which I witnessed, and not because I have any medical expertise. Thankfully, everyone is just fine now. I am so glad so many people enjoyed this story, as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I already have my next story in the works, so keep checking back and I hope it lives up to expectations! Thank all of you for the lovely reviews and kind words, as well as criticism, for that is how I progress as a writer. As to whether or not this story will get a sequel, well, keep in mind, this story IS a sequel. (grin) But I will say, if the muse strikes again concerning this incarnation of the characters, I will certainly not deny her! Cheers, all!

POSTER’S NOTE: Wow, this has been a fun one! Just like all of you guys, I had to wait for each chapter as they were written, and it about killed me! Looking forward to posting the next story for my friend! Don’t be jealous that I get to read them first! ;-)


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